Sharn Adventure: Falling Skyway Restaurant - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Sharn Adventure: Falling Skyway Restaurant

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
naturax
Apr 14, 2010 20:48:15 I'd like so help finding an adventure I read about a while back that features some group attaching a magical device to a floating restaurant and causing it to crash into the city below.

Anyone know what I'm talking about? Thanks a zillion!
#2
Magicstar1
Apr 15, 2010 2:15:18 Entry by Kinger in the UnCon Eberron pulp competition:

The falling tavern
#3
naturax
Apr 15, 2010 9:31:16 You are my hero! Thank you so much!
#4
naturax
Apr 16, 2010 10:10:57 So I've thought about how I'm going to adapt the scenario to kick off a new game I'm starting, and I've love to brainstorm about the little details that will help make the session memorable. My primary goal is to introduce Eberron to a bunch of new players.

Change number one: The Edge of the Sky floats. It has a dock in Skyway and loads up at dusk, then does a circuit of the city and lands around midnight to let everyone off. It uses the same technology as the skycoaches and soarsleds, which means that it only floats within Sharn's manifest zone.

The basic premise is that the PCs have all been invited to dine at the Edge of the Sky, which just opened up a couple of weeks ago, by an unscrupulous NPC by the name of Dazzle. He's just won a huge sum of money at a game of Six Stones and wants to blow it all on a huge fancy dinner. Of course now he's totally paranoid that all the people that he owes money are going to track him down and make him pay, so he'll be very anxious until the restaurant takes off, at which point he will relax and enjoy dinner. This is a red herring to make the PCs think they are going to have to deal with Dazzle's mess.

Instead, a bunch of undercover staff and guests will pull out their weapons and hold everyone hostage. They will identify themselves as Cyran refugees who are desperate to gain support and reconition, as they feel they have been tossed in a corner of Breland and ignored. Their plan: to fly the restaurant into the Mournland, thus demonstrating to this group of nobles in Sharn just what has happened to Cyre in order to gain their sympathy, but also holding them all ransom until the King agrees to give them a chunk of land with which they can start over.

At this point someone will remind the hostage takers that the restaurant only floats in Sharn's manifest zone, and there is an opportunity to create conflict between the NPCs who suddenly doubt their leader. The PCs can try to stop the restaurant from flying out of the manifest zone, where it would plummet like a stone, but I'm looking an excuse to cause the ship to fall earlier (as written in the adventure). The leader will probably call whoever's bluff and try to fly the ship towards the Mournland anyways, to disasterous effect.

Questions I would like help with:
- what notable NPCs will be dining in the restaurant?
- what could the leader of the thugs be like? what cool powers will the thugs have?
- how is the restaurant's flight controlled?
- what kind of safety measures does the restaurant have? life boats that only work in Sharn?
- what excuse can I use to introduce any Dragonmarked House?

Thanks in advance for any ideas you want to share!
#5
morgrum
Apr 16, 2010 17:41:35

Questions I would like help with:
- what notable NPCs will be dining in the restaurant?
- what could the leader of the thugs be like? what cool powers will the thugs have?
- how is the restaurant's flight controlled?
- what kind of safety measures does the restaurant have? life boats that only work in Sharn?
- what excuse can I use to introduce any Dragonmarked House?

Thanks in advance for any ideas you want to share!

Guests / Involving the Houses
Since high-level House members are members of the upper-class almost by default the Baron / Seneschal / High-level-executive of [House you want to introduce] could be dining at the restaurant. Alternatively you could decide the restaurant's flight needs to be controlled by someone with a dragonmark, though that's not 100% consistent with using soarsled technology.
Other notable NPCs could be any member of the Ir'Tain family, any member of the Sixty (the noble families who have a standing invitation to the Tain Gala), a Morgrave professor, any of the councillors, a foreign ambassador, or a high-ranking Boromar. Or of course any combination of the above that works for the story.

Flight Control
There's probably some kind of focus (most likely involving a dragonshard) that allows a magewright/artificer/marked heir (depending on story needs) to access the magic energy that controls the restaurant. It'll either be hidden away behind a staff only door or on prominent display (e.g. forming the centre of the dining room or at a kind of 'bridge' position).

Safety measures
A bunch of soarsleds / skycoaches seems most likely. Also I vaguely remember reading about special life-bouys used on airships, from Explorers Handbook I think. Basically they are rings of soar-wood that will cast feather-fall on themselves and four people holding them when activated.

Thug powers
Since the leader can control the flight of the restaurant magewright or artificer seems most likely. As for other cool powers there are some Cyran prestige classes (from 3.5 books if you have them) and paragon paths floating around. Perhaps you could adapt some of their powers. If you want to go more for the desperate terrorist angle give them some cheap swords and lots of alchemical items (be careful about unintentionally giving the PCs too much loot).

#6
naturax
Apr 21, 2010 9:33:47 Thanks for this! I really appreciate it.
#7
naturax
May 06, 2010 16:56:06 I could use some more help:

A theme for the restaurant is going to be invisibility. Once the restaurant takes off, the maitre d' will give a speech and use some kind of spell or magic item to turn the floor, tables, and waistaff invisible, giving the patrons a full view of the city below. Of course the bad guys are going to be members of the waitstaff, so one of the first things they are going to want to do is cancel whatever effect it is that's making everything invisible.

I'm having trouble figuring out an "Eberron" kind of device that the maitre d' would use. I don't want them just casting a spell, since that's not something low-level PCs can easily just stop. Obviously there's the food fight option, but I want the players to have to resort to that when they disable whatever device and then realize the bad guys have their own methods of invisibility anyway.

Thanks for any thoughts on this you might have!
#8
pluisjen
May 06, 2010 17:33:41 A magic power like that sounds like it'd be a ritual... probably keyed to a magic circle that borders the entire restaurant and would need to be severed and then probably throwing some Arcana checks or something at them (a mini skill challenge)
#9
naturax
May 07, 2010 8:05:14
A magic power like that sounds like it'd be a ritual... probably keyed to a magic circle that borders the entire restaurant and would need to be severed and then probably throwing some Arcana checks or something at them (a mini skill challenge)

I'm looking for the in-game description of the effect, not how to handle it mechanically.

But having a circle of runes near the centre of the restaurant would work - either all of the waitstaff has to stand inside when the circle is activated (so the PCs could disrupt the circle at any point later on) or it is somehow keyed to members of the waitstaff based on something they are wearing? In the second case, they'd have to remove whatever device from their person.

I'm looking for other suggestions too, if there are any.
#10
AvonRekaes
May 10, 2010 12:33:57 Invisibily being an illusion effect, something which the Mark of Shadow is good at, I'd have the maitre d' be a hired Phiarlan dragonmarked heir, and he uses a Dragonshard Focus Item to channel his mark's power. Maybe a cane with a dragon-headed handle wrought from a siberys shard, with a smooth siberys shard tip. When he strikes the ground with the shard, the floor becomes invisible, and then the dragon's eyes flare and blink, causing the waitstaff to become invisible as well.
#11
naturax
May 10, 2010 13:26:11 Now that is very cool, Avon.

How could the PCs use the device to make the waistaff visible again? Would they need to have the Mark of Shadow?
#12
naturax
May 28, 2010 12:44:25 Thanks for everyone's help with this! What I ended up going with was a bunch of runes on the floor tied to a wand possessed by the maitre d' that turned the waitstaff and the walls/floor invisible on command. The restaurant was controled by a huge Eberron shard incased in a rotating glass sphere that could be spun to direct the flight path.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 naturax Apr 14, 2010 20:48:15	I'd like so help finding an adventure I read about a while back that features some group attaching a magical device to a floating restaurant and causing it to crash into the city below. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Thanks a zillion!
#2 Magicstar1 Apr 15, 2010 2:15:18	Entry by Kinger in the UnCon Eberron pulp competition: The falling tavern
#3 naturax Apr 15, 2010 9:31:16	You are my hero! Thank you so much!
#4 naturax Apr 16, 2010 10:10:57	So I've thought about how I'm going to adapt the scenario to kick off a new game I'm starting, and I've love to brainstorm about the little details that will help make the session memorable. My primary goal is to introduce Eberron to a bunch of new players. Change number one: The Edge of the Sky floats. It has a dock in Skyway and loads up at dusk, then does a circuit of the city and lands around midnight to let everyone off. It uses the same technology as the skycoaches and soarsleds, which means that it only floats within Sharn's manifest zone. The basic premise is that the PCs have all been invited to dine at the Edge of the Sky, which just opened up a couple of weeks ago, by an unscrupulous NPC by the name of Dazzle. He's just won a huge sum of money at a game of Six Stones and wants to blow it all on a huge fancy dinner. Of course now he's totally paranoid that all the people that he owes money are going to track him down and make him pay, so he'll be very anxious until the restaurant takes off, at which point he will relax and enjoy dinner. This is a red herring to make the PCs think they are going to have to deal with Dazzle's mess. Instead, a bunch of undercover staff and guests will pull out their weapons and hold everyone hostage. They will identify themselves as Cyran refugees who are desperate to gain support and reconition, as they feel they have been tossed in a corner of Breland and ignored. Their plan: to fly the restaurant into the Mournland, thus demonstrating to this group of nobles in Sharn just what has happened to Cyre in order to gain their sympathy, but also holding them all ransom until the King agrees to give them a chunk of land with which they can start over. At this point someone will remind the hostage takers that the restaurant only floats in Sharn's manifest zone, and there is an opportunity to create conflict between the NPCs who suddenly doubt their leader. The PCs can try to stop the restaurant from flying out of the manifest zone, where it would plummet like a stone, but I'm looking an excuse to cause the ship to fall earlier (as written in the adventure). The leader will probably call whoever's bluff and try to fly the ship towards the Mournland anyways, to disasterous effect. Questions I would like help with: - what notable NPCs will be dining in the restaurant? - what could the leader of the thugs be like? what cool powers will the thugs have? - how is the restaurant's flight controlled? - what kind of safety measures does the restaurant have? life boats that only work in Sharn? - what excuse can I use to introduce any Dragonmarked House? Thanks in advance for any ideas you want to share!
#5 morgrum Apr 16, 2010 17:41:35	Questions I would like help with: - what notable NPCs will be dining in the restaurant? - what could the leader of the thugs be like? what cool powers will the thugs have? - how is the restaurant's flight controlled? - what kind of safety measures does the restaurant have? life boats that only work in Sharn? - what excuse can I use to introduce any Dragonmarked House? Thanks in advance for any ideas you want to share! Guests / Involving the Houses Since high-level House members are members of the upper-class almost by default the Baron / Seneschal / High-level-executive of [House you want to introduce] could be dining at the restaurant. Alternatively you could decide the restaurant's flight needs to be controlled by someone with a dragonmark, though that's not 100% consistent with using soarsled technology. Other notable NPCs could be any member of the Ir'Tain family, any member of the Sixty (the noble families who have a standing invitation to the Tain Gala), a Morgrave professor, any of the councillors, a foreign ambassador, or a high-ranking Boromar. Or of course any combination of the above that works for the story. Flight Control There's probably some kind of focus (most likely involving a dragonshard) that allows a magewright/artificer/marked heir (depending on story needs) to access the magic energy that controls the restaurant. It'll either be hidden away behind a staff only door or on prominent display (e.g. forming the centre of the dining room or at a kind of 'bridge' position). Safety measures A bunch of soarsleds / skycoaches seems most likely. Also I vaguely remember reading about special life-bouys used on airships, from Explorers Handbook I think. Basically they are rings of soar-wood that will cast feather-fall on themselves and four people holding them when activated. Thug powers Since the leader can control the flight of the restaurant magewright or artificer seems most likely. As for other cool powers there are some Cyran prestige classes (from 3.5 books if you have them) and paragon paths floating around. Perhaps you could adapt some of their powers. If you want to go more for the desperate terrorist angle give them some cheap swords and lots of alchemical items (be careful about unintentionally giving the PCs too much loot).
#6 naturax Apr 21, 2010 9:33:47	Thanks for this! I really appreciate it.
#7 naturax May 06, 2010 16:56:06	I could use some more help: A theme for the restaurant is going to be invisibility. Once the restaurant takes off, the maitre d' will give a speech and use some kind of spell or magic item to turn the floor, tables, and waistaff invisible, giving the patrons a full view of the city below. Of course the bad guys are going to be members of the waitstaff, so one of the first things they are going to want to do is cancel whatever effect it is that's making everything invisible. I'm having trouble figuring out an "Eberron" kind of device that the maitre d' would use. I don't want them just casting a spell, since that's not something low-level PCs can easily just stop. Obviously there's the food fight option, but I want the players to have to resort to that when they disable whatever device and then realize the bad guys have their own methods of invisibility anyway. Thanks for any thoughts on this you might have!
#8 pluisjen May 06, 2010 17:33:41	A magic power like that sounds like it'd be a ritual... probably keyed to a magic circle that borders the entire restaurant and would need to be severed and then probably throwing some Arcana checks or something at them (a mini skill challenge)
#9 naturax May 07, 2010 8:05:14	A magic power like that sounds like it'd be a ritual... probably keyed to a magic circle that borders the entire restaurant and would need to be severed and then probably throwing some Arcana checks or something at them (a mini skill challenge) I'm looking for the in-game description of the effect, not how to handle it mechanically. But having a circle of runes near the centre of the restaurant would work - either all of the waitstaff has to stand inside when the circle is activated (so the PCs could disrupt the circle at any point later on) or it is somehow keyed to members of the waitstaff based on something they are wearing? In the second case, they'd have to remove whatever device from their person. I'm looking for other suggestions too, if there are any.
#10 AvonRekaes May 10, 2010 12:33:57	Invisibily being an illusion effect, something which the Mark of Shadow is good at, I'd have the maitre d' be a hired Phiarlan dragonmarked heir, and he uses a Dragonshard Focus Item to channel his mark's power. Maybe a cane with a dragon-headed handle wrought from a siberys shard, with a smooth siberys shard tip. When he strikes the ground with the shard, the floor becomes invisible, and then the dragon's eyes flare and blink, causing the waitstaff to become invisible as well.
#11 naturax May 10, 2010 13:26:11	Now that is very cool, Avon. How could the PCs use the device to make the waistaff visible again? Would they need to have the Mark of Shadow?
#12 naturax May 28, 2010 12:44:25	Thanks for everyone's help with this! What I ended up going with was a bunch of runes on the floor tied to a wand possessed by the maitre d' that turned the waitstaff and the walls/floor invisible on command. The restaurant was controled by a huge Eberron shard incased in a rotating glass sphere that could be spun to direct the flight path.