Story So Far
The group came together when, in true Eberron style, a corpse fell on them from above in Sharn. An attack by a mysterious soulknife followed, who was soon thrown off the bridge ("no one could survive that fall!") After the battle, they were approached by an agent of the Dark Lanterns who, having witness the attack, was impressed by their ability an asked them to investigate the case. Long story short, they tracked down the location of the victim's brother's apartment, where they discovered a spent ritual which turned out to be a teleportation circle of some sort. At that time, they were attacked again by mysterious psionic people. They took one hostage, and determined that the attackers were Sarlonans. They couldn't get any more information before their captive was rescued by the original soulknife.
One of the group members used a contact in Morgrave to help replicate the ritual in the apartment to find a new lead. The teleportation circle sent them to a desolate, mountainous wasteland where they were attacked by a seemingly dead band of Riedran raiders. It appeared to be the Mournland, but why were there Riedrans? Exploration revealed a monastery built into the mountainside. The resident monks and apparently Riedran allies tried to keep them out, but they fought their way to the inner sanctum, where they found the Mysterious Soulknife and his four subordinates conducting a ritual at the base of a broken Shroud crystal.
Important bit:
One BBEG monologue later, the group learned that what they had assumed were Riedrans were in fact over zealous kalashtar, hoping to bring about the Turning of the Age by spread the Mourning across the whole of Khorvaire. Cyre was just a test, now they're playing the big game.
Battle ensues, and before they disrupt the ritual it is finished - the four subordinates are ordered to take shards of the Mourning crystal to the capitals of the Five Nations. They teleport away, leaving the Mysterious Soulknife, who is soon killed by the group.
Our heroes then return back to Sharn, where they set out across Khorvaire to retrieve the Mourning shards before it's too late.
They've stopped the crystal at Wroat, now they're off to Aundair.
There is a less abridged version here:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/curs/wiki.pl?AStateOfMind/SessionLog
One of the group members used a contact in Morgrave to help replicate the ritual in the apartment to find a new lead. The teleportation circle sent them to a desolate, mountainous wasteland where they were attacked by a seemingly dead band of Riedran raiders. It appeared to be the Mournland, but why were there Riedrans? Exploration revealed a monastery built into the mountainside. The resident monks and apparently Riedran allies tried to keep them out, but they fought their way to the inner sanctum, where they found the Mysterious Soulknife and his four subordinates conducting a ritual at the base of a broken Shroud crystal.
Important bit:
One BBEG monologue later, the group learned that what they had assumed were Riedrans were in fact over zealous kalashtar, hoping to bring about the Turning of the Age by spread the Mourning across the whole of Khorvaire. Cyre was just a test, now they're playing the big game.
Battle ensues, and before they disrupt the ritual it is finished - the four subordinates are ordered to take shards of the Mourning crystal to the capitals of the Five Nations. They teleport away, leaving the Mysterious Soulknife, who is soon killed by the group.
Our heroes then return back to Sharn, where they set out across Khorvaire to retrieve the Mourning shards before it's too late.
They've stopped the crystal at Wroat, now they're off to Aundair.
There is a less abridged version here:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/curs/wiki.pl?AStateOfMind/SessionLog
I would surely find B more interesting. They get to fight a dragon afterall...:D
Not just because of that.
As a DM i noticed my players already hold a grudge against any NPC that seen to be worried about them (wish they well and help when can). They always think they are the villains so i stopped using that cliche as well.
I shall add some random ideas..who knows maybe you like them;
A) The original BBEG was a puppet. Something powerful like a artifact or what else your evil mind can imagine has make he serve the blue dragon with loyalty.
When the PCs kill him they actually freed him from such compulsion and now he returns from the dead (or just guide them from the spirit world) to the real threats etc.
B) Make the dragon use them as well, taking all the stones to a certain place (or destroying them), as such thing is exactly the one needed to free him/empower him/fulfil the prophecy.
C)Did they loot the body of the soulknife? If yes you could say that the spirit of the soulknife or the curse that bothered the same and made him evil is also corrupting the npc who wears the item x. He would end up being the BBEG (as you would roleplay strange dreams and whatnot for him separetely) when he betrays the party at the apex of the final scenes.
These are my suggestions trolls, hope you can use at least one
But yeah, no more betrayal of supposed allies. That's old news.
The best friend of the soulknife is out to get personal revenge on the PC's, and the real puller of the strings, the dragon superior of Grell is focusing on using the pc's to fullfill the prophecy. Meanwhile, the vindictive spirit of the soulknife begins to have a corrupting influence over whomever ultimately gets hold of a cursed item from his body. Mwahahahahahaha!
...or the soulknife could work for the Lord Of Blades who wants to use the stones to recreate the effect on the other Nations that claimed Cyre. This is his way of making a true homeland for "his" people.
...or the villain could be an "old school" Quori (the kind that tried to invade the giants) and is now inside a warforged. He has several other Quori stored away and plans on making the Nations a land only his brethern can thrive in (once he gets them all warforged bodies). He of course is insane.
Plus in the new 4E undead book there is a new spirit template that allows a spirit or ghost to inhabit other beings. So your soulknife does not have to be gone.
The blue dragon happens to believe that by creating the Mourning across the length and breadth of Khorvaire that a certain passage of the Prophecy that speaks of the pacifying of Khorvaire by the "Lords of Dreams" will enable the turning of the age in Dal Quor to be stifled, perhaps permanently. To that end it can see no other recourse than to annihilate most of Khorvaire and prevent the Quori from invading. His reasoning is because this blue dragon has agents throughout Sarlona, including one within the faction known as the Harmonious Shield (Secrets of Sarlona, pg 61). Lord Zoratesh has been drafting plans and intends to invade Khorvaire regardless of whether the Devourer of Dreams agrees or not, which is also a move to destabilise Lady Sharadhuna and her faction.
Meanwhile the PC's are caught in the middle. They have to stop the Mourning from spreading. However to that end they will need to align themselves with Grell, who is secretly a member of the Tarnished (Faiths of Eberron, pg 69). Grell wishes to hand the crystals over to his dark master so they can devastage Khorvaire and then reclaim the continent from the usurper mortal races.
So for the first half of the campaign the party seeks out the sleeper agents carrying "Mourning Crystals" to the capitals of the Five Nations. The crystals need a minimum threshold of latent psychic power bleeding into the Dreamspace (Secrets of Sarlona, pg 18). Which means a minimum population of people to activate the crystals (Which still need time to charge). So aiming for a capital with a high population centre makes sense. This also allows you the DM to change locations to other capitals on a whim if your players start jumping ahead of the gun. Atur, Sharn, Passage or Stariluskar all make great locations with medium-to-high level populations.
The players finally confront the Blue Dragon who has been working against them, attempting to locate the crystals itself. They take the final crystal from the dragon and hand it over to Grell, who then betrays them and leaves them to be killed.
Ironically the players are saved by the same Blue, who after consulting a newly opened thread of the prophecy realises that it has been manipulated by the demons into helping the players and by extension Grell acquire the Mourning Crystals. The Blue offers a truce, the old "enemy of my enemy" rule. The passage it had read spoke of the Reidrans pacifying and it still believes they will attempt to take control of Khorvaire, but it does not wish the demons to do either and will help them as long as the crystals can be permanently destroyed, preventing either fork of the prophecy from coming to pass.
Now the players find themselves facing off against the demon-worshipping member of the Tainted as well as twisted or duped members of the Dark Lanterns. Grell has used his connections to turn the players in wanted criminals and cancelled their passports through his connections with House Sivis. The players are stranded and will need to rely on the Blue's own illegal network to get them across Khorvaire as they chase down Grell and his underlings.
The battle eventually leads them back to Sharn, where they fight the last of the demon worshippers, who happen to be lead by a Cerebrelith (or nearest equivalent in 4e), which throws the party. It seems that the Tarnished have in turn been manipulated by Lord Zoratesh, who wishes to use the Mourning Crystals to destabilise and destroy key military installations throughout the Five Nations. Lord Zoratesh uses his powers as a Kalaraq to warp the crystals away to his minions. Now the players face their true foe, a master manipulator who has been pulling the strings of everyone so far.
Oh and it seems the Blue hasn't been telling the party everything. In it's youth the Blue was briefly kidnapped by the Dreaming Dark and used in their strange breeding experiments to produce Gem Dragons. Now a flock of Sapphire Dragons has been loosed on Khorvaire, the spearhead of the Riedran invasion, with the newly acquirred Mourning Crystals now heading back towards their intended destinations all along...
Hope that's pulpy enough for you Mr Trolls :D . I had a 'bout of odd writing fancy and came across this post.
Since the players already suspect their patron of betrayal, when he does turn on them it'll give them an "I knew it all along!" moment. Everyone loves to show off how smart they are. Right? It's not just me?
Plus it gives the players a tough choice. Do we continue working for this guy knowing that he's gonna stab us in the back? Or do we turn on him now? How do we prepare for either one?
The dragon working his own angle at the same time gives the players a chance to fight a dragon, but also gives you a backup villain (in case they expose the patron too early). At the very least it'll draw out the final climactic scene as the players defeat the patron, take a deep breath of relief, and then BOOM a dragon shows up.
Can you see another path that would be even better?
You already have a great plot, continue with it and see where it takes you. You have already foiled the mastermind who was going to destroy the world, don’t take that away from them. Let them clean up all the loose ends.
First, what do we have to work with:
1) A Patron who the adventurers do not trust.
2) Shards that could in the wrong hands destroy the world.
3) Four minions (and their friends/underlings) trained in tainted evil who know too much and need to be hunted down.
4) A Blue Dragon miniature that just has to be used in a climatic battle.
5) The start of a tour of the five nations prompted by the motive to seek out those dangerous shards and the evil minions.
Next, what can we do with all this:
1) The adventurers realized that the shards can never be given to anyone in their current form, no matter how noble that person is. Thru an oracle/prophesy/etc, the adventurers hear about a staff/sword/shield/etc that should have these shards attached to it. When all five shards are attached to it the object transforms back into the powerful relic/artifact that it was before evil shattered it. The adventurers must travel to some other plane to find this object and retrieve it with great effort.
2) When they realized what must be done, the adventurers must use diplomacy or steal back the shard that their patron already has since this was not revealed until after the patron had at least one shard. Or the adventurers must recover some of the shards twice because they are stolen from the patron.
3) At the same time, the adventurers have much difficulty obtaining the next shard. For example, the Queen of Aundair has thrown the minion in her kingdom into the dungeon. The adventurers sneak into the dungeon to talk to him and find out the shard is in the royal treasury. The adventurers must result to stealth/diplomacy to solve this part of the adventure. For a battle scene, have them be ambushed on the highways coming or going by a Troll guarding a bridge who has a Beholder Friend.
4) When the group goes to the next nation, they come across a hungry old beggar woman on the desert road who offers a flower for some bread and wine. If the adventurers are rude, they get what many a spoiled person has had happen before-a lesson in manners from a powerful witch/warlock/etc who places a spell on them turning them into donkeys/pigs/cats/etc. This alone provides a side adventure. If the adventurers are polite, they come across a donkey/etc who speaks common and claims to be a member of royalty. This could provide its own side adventure. When they reach the minion, they find that the minion has realized its master is dead and has made a pact with a powerful devil/demon/lich/etc, giving the devil his shard and offering to perform the ritual for the evil baddie to destroy the world. This new devil races against the adventurer to find the rest of the shards.
5) When the group goes to the next nation, this minion has been drafted into the nation’s undead army being forced to join a covert group who is plotting against the Queen of Aundair planning to assassinate her. It is using the shard to creature powerful elite undead assassins on each new moon in the sky. He must be stopped before these very hard to kill undead creature overpopulated Eberron.
6) When the group tracks down the last minion, they find his dead half eaten body in the middle of a complex dungeon/wilderness maze/etc. The shard is not in his possession. Ultimately after battling many foes and solving complex traps, the adventure find out that the last shard has been taken by the blue dragon that ate the minion. And so the adventurers quest onward in search of the blue dragon that holds the last shard.
7) Having gathered all the shards, the adventures must go to a mystic mountain pass and have a monk instruct them on the difficult quests that they must perform to reconstruct the shard and the staff/sword/shield/etc which becomes the scepter of some great long dead ancient king. Then the adventurers must take the scepter to the island in the middle of Eberron where the throne seat of the old kings is in order to ensure peace will continue in Eberron. When the specter is put in place, a miracle occurs and some ancient scrolls are revealed which grants the descents of this king claim to ???. In reward for saving the Queen and assembling the specter and revealing the scrolls, the adventurers are award land, castles, and titles.
8) Thus the adventurers retire and settle down into a boring life of taming the land, keeping the peace, and dealing with the occasional monster who wants to destroy their people…
It needs brushing up and customizing to suit your tastes. Don’t you think that is enough to fill up your adventure with possible random encounters and side adventures along the way?
How about a combination? The dragon (who may or may have not manipulated the kalashtar) has infiltrated the Dark Lanterns and is agent Grell's superior. Grell trusts him to secure the shards, yet the dragon wishes to wreak havoc with them in order to fulfill the part of the prophecy he/she wants to take place. That part requires a reenacted war between the nations of Khorvaire. Thus, the PCs' patron is not a betrayer but the betrayed.
I like this one a lot.
There is one factor I forgot to mention in my OP, and that's time. I only have maybe five or six more four hour sessions to finish the game, so ideally once the group have finished the tour of the Five Nations, they should be at the end game. I still have Aundair and Karrnath to go (Thrane will be destroyed - one of the subordinates is successful), so drawn out plots like PJammaGod and Doug suggest won't really work
So here's what I'm thinking now:
When the party defeats the final Sub-Bad in Karrnath, Grell is there to congratulate them. He immediately takes the final shard and tell them that, for the good of the Crown, he cannot leave any trace of their operation. He turns on them, but before he can strike, a shadow grows in the corner. With a burst of (anti) Heroic Resolve, the final Sub-Bad stands, polymorphs back into his original dragon form, and swallows Grell along with the shard. Cue brief monologue from the dragon, and it then flies off to the Mournland to use the resonance to spread the magic across the continent with just one shard instead of four.
OR
Grell's superior turns up when Grell takes the last shard. Grell hands the last one over, then the superior tries to rid himself of Grell AND the group. He either leaves it to minions, or fights them himself in human form. The superior transforms into blue dragon form and leaves with the same promise of using the resonance in the Mournland. Here we have Ellorin's betrayed patron idea.
OR we combine everything:
I thought about having Grell's superior be a rakshasa, and the Sub-Bad in Karrnath be the dragon. The rakshasa wants to use the shards to bully the humans into serving the rajahs. The dragon just wants to use the shards. At the moment of the rakshasa's betrayal, the Sub-Bad uses his heroic resolve to polymorph and an epic battle ensues between demon and dragon. Cue some terrain based skill challenge as the battle happens in the background. The dragon eventually wins, consuming the shards to use the resonance, and we're back where we want to be. If time is short, I can have the climactic final battle right there in Korth, rather than the Mournlands.
I'm actually warming to that last one. I can visualise a lot of the scenes, which is always a good thing!
As for rodolfo and robert's ideas of bringing back the Soulknife - I think I'm going to steer clear of that. He's had an epic death scene already, so I don't think there's any particular plot advantage in bringing him back as the villain again. He's run his course, as it were. The only way I can see him coming back is as an ally, or at least a tool. Something like Gurren Lagann's bringing back Lordgenome to battle the greater foe. I could use one of the items looted from his corpse as a medium for communication, and in turn finding a weakness to defeat the dragon. Perhaps the spirit in the ring feels betrayed by his friend manipulating them, or has an epiphany in death. Hmm...
1. Keep it simple. Anythng too convoluted is always risky and introducing new stuff/foes at the climax can be anticlimatic. Okay here we go, we've got 1 hour to whack this last baddy and it's over, roll roll roll...
2. I think you've got enough material as is without having to drag extra stuff in. Have the shards themselves be the baddies. Or a bad influence. Bringing the shards back together again suddenly makes things worse not better sort of thing. Have the Mourning spread to the characters and they are now spreading the Mourning. You know your group and would understand how much of direct influence on the players characters they'd enjoy, and how much they wouldn't. Cursing characters can be fun. Having them hunted by the legitamite law can also be fun. They could be targeted by the Dark Lanterns for extermination because they are now Mourning carriers. Warping them and making the characters do stuff out of their control is usually a no-no but some player groups might go for it...