Who dies at the Tain Gala? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ogiwan Jul 29, 2011 17:36:34	Greetings, all! In my campaign, the PCs had to protect a member of House Kundarak. In the course of events, he was invited to the Tain Gala, so the PCs contrived to get invited/work their way in too too. Fun shenanigens there. But, in the inevitable fight that ensued, I placed 16 civilians on the table, and gave the PCs a 10 gold reward for each one that survived. However, only 14 made it. So, who are the two who died? Why are they at the Tain Gala? How important are they? My PCs want to cover it up. Discuss!
#2 Gilo Jul 30, 2011 13:42:33	What caused to fight - who killed who? In any case here are the two that died: Lucius Alonso is a Cyrian poet from New-Cyre. His poem reading sessions have gained him some popularity among Sharn's elite and an invention to the Tain Gala. Lucius is also secretly connected to a cell of Cyran avengers planning something sinister in Sharn. Saal ir'Tyran is scion of the ir'Tyran nobel famaily which were stripped of their noble rank and banished by Galifar the Dark. Five months ago Saal returned from Stormreach with an exotic but loyal entourage of ex-Red Ring gladiators and bought a few buildings in Sharn's Broken Arch district, he's been known to spend allot of gold trying to get the acceptance of the local nobles.
#3 Ogiwan Jul 31, 2011 6:27:44	Much appreciated, Gilo. The story behind the death is that a d'Kundarak had someone trying to disgrace and/or kill him. When he arrived at the Tain Gala, there was some quiet which the PCs used to interact (one of the characters got into a screaming match with his father, the other traded barbs with his boss). Eventually, some incoporial undead popped up through the floor (everyone thought baddies were coming in through the cealing). But, anybody else is welcome to throw in their suggestions!
#4 Ogiwan Aug 06, 2011 21:34:45	Because of my job, I have another week's respite. I don't know why, but I am totally drawing a blank. My players are really looking forward to RPing out some damage control and attempt to stop word of the "Ballroom Blitz" (as they referred to it) from leaking to the media. But....I just can't seem to come up with any interesting casualties. Hence why I'm asking for the help of the forumgoers.
#5 Azzibeel Aug 07, 2011 17:47:20	Victim number one Mala Boromar d’Jorasco wife of Saidan Boromar. Page 150 of Sharn City of towers. They are both frequently at the Tain Gala. That should be fun to cover up the wife of the head of the halfling mob and a member of house Jorasco. Victim number two may be more of a whole new plot than you were looking for but my brain started churning and it is hard to stop it when that happens. The Mystery Guest. A human woman in her mid twenties that no one present knows who she is and no one saw her during the Gala or the fight. During the process of discovering her identity it is found she is dragonmarked member of house Orien. Encricling her dragonmark is a series of profane tattoos in Abyssal, Draconic, and Deep Speech. All the tattoos combine to complete a ritual that completely dominated the woman and made her an walking arcane bomb. Included in the tattoo is the name of her target, a high ranking powerful guest or even the house member the players were highered to protect. The ritual would complete when she touched the target and blow them both, and everyone with in 10 feet, to peices in one spectacular explosion. On further Arcane investigation the ritual is powered and sustained by her dragonmark. Good luck keeping that out of the papers. Abducted Dragonmarked being used as bombs to assasinate the rich and powerful. Especially after another dragonmarked is stopped or succeeds at another assasination.
#6 ellorin Aug 09, 2011 7:15:49	Hrofan Soldorak, vice director of the Sharn Branch of the Soldorak Bank. Kundarak and its hirelings might take the blame. Rana the maid, a 17-year old girl of rather attractive looks, usualy considered to have the brains of a prawn. It was quite a shock when she turned out to be a hag in disguise...
#7 Ogiwan Aug 09, 2011 16:24:22	cackle Good so far. Interesting stuff, certaintly.
#8 Gilo Aug 10, 2011 21:44:24	Adding a few quick ones: - The Breland Ledger's Food and Wine editor-in-chief - Aerenal ambassador - Riedra ambassador - Haydith Ir'Wynarn (five nations p.59): fifteen year old sister of Kaius III, Breland's 'hostage' - capt. Sortan, head of the The King’s Shields (head of royal security) - Lord Ruken ir'Clarn, member of parliament a follow-up idea The person behind the attack knows Sharn like the back of his hand, he easily slipped unseen in and out of the lower parts of the tower (even with the enhanced security) while using ancient pathways which non of the tower's residents knew existed. He seems to know Sharn's history well and where all the bodies are buried - literally: as he dug out the remains of the executed ir'Tyran family from their mausoleum at the City of the Dead and ritually placed them below the Tain Gala hall to be resurrected as vengeful spirits. The PCs maybe unaware that this is not the antagonist first attempt to leverage their House Kundarak patron to deliver him the contents of vault #13 in the Kundarak Bank Of Sharn.
#9 Ogiwan Aug 14, 2011 8:50:17	Hahaha. Gilo, nice to see you. There's no way I could kill off ir'Clarn, as his push for true democracy is just a wonderful way to make him a villian. My decision is that one of the people killed will be a high-ranking member of the King's Citadel, which will allow the Swords of Liberty to hold his death up as a rallying point, start agitating, and so on and so forth. edit: I'm going to have to make a poster or flyer.....
#10 Gilo Aug 14, 2011 15:37:06	I once used a tavern named "The Goblin King" as the Swords of Liberty loyalist meting place (based on the "Indian King Tavern" from the American revolution history) its kind of a "Patriot Games" moment when the PCs walk in... I think that when facing the Swords of Liberty their relative-strength is in the home court advantage: Brelish loyalist to their cause which the PC may not necessarily meet in a combat encounter but can make life very hard for the PCs. a judge or a low level city bureaucrat -examples: - The PCs get a SoL member arrested but discover he was immediately releases on some technicality. - The PCs get pickpocketed in the upper parts of the city or their inn room was broken into (by someone with a key). - The PCs are detained on some bogus charge. - The PCs property (house/horses/airship) impounded by the city for not paying taxes or some minor code-violation. - A local vendor sell them a non-functional feather fall charm or a poisoned healing potion. All because they SoL spread the word - making the PCs 'marked' while in Breland (and its all done via SoL sympathizers that can't even lead the PCs back to the actual militant-wing of the SoL responsable for the attack).
#11 Ogiwan Aug 14, 2011 19:31:54	Hah. Well done, Gilo. I may have to borrow some of that for when I run the SoL. I've never paid attention to them, at all, in the past. Now, well, I'm finding that they have a use. Also, here is the flyer that I made: PEOPLE OF BRELAND, HEAR US! We, the Swords of Liberty who fight in the name of YOUR freedom, announce the death of a Royalist lackey who oppressed the innocent citizens of our fair country! JODREK ir'Clairyn, of the King's Citadel met his end screaming and weeping like one of the commoners he so regularly derided at the Tain Gala on Far, 6 Zarantyr, 998 YK! His death was a sanctioned operation by the Swords of Liberty, with the aim of removing one of the MANY parasites in our "government" who rob the people of their hard-earned wages, deny them their freedoms, and, by the nature of an accident of birth, hold themselves above the teeming masses whose hard labors are responsible for the wealth, success, and station of those who feed off of the common citizen. His death proves that the nobility is, in fact, no more or less noble than the "commoners." It also shows that those who sit at the pinnacle of society are unable to solve any problem that cannot be bought, either by money or by legal action. Truly, if a class cannot extend the basic protection expected of a host, how can they possibly interact with anyone on an equitable level? Why, fellow Brelanders, do we allow these incompetent nobles to guide our country? Why do we allow them to leech our wealth and happiness? Why should we not cast them down? The death of this vile oppressor opens a crack in the wall protecting those of privilege! Join us in opening that fissure, so prosperity and equality will flow to all in Breland, and in Khorvaire!
#12 dmnate Nov 29, 2011 14:47:15	Nice. Have always loved the SoL as a sympathetic "villainous" organization. Have great plans for them in my own campaign.
#13 Ogiwan Dec 01, 2011 20:08:49	Well, tell us! If you dare.
#14 nerraDetroK Jun 14, 2012 14:48:54	sorry for the thread Necro, but this is a smilar topic to what I'm planning for my PC's and I wanted some advice. I'm finishing up Seekers of the Ashen Crown for my PC's. Since they start and end the adveture series in the tunnels in the Tain Foundry, I thought I'd have the owner invite the party to the Tain Gala as a reward for wiping out the Kruthik and for finding the Ashen Crown itself. Yes, I plan on exposing the PC's as the new owners of the Crown and then seeing what happens next- most likely more Emerald Claw and Bladebearer ambushes. Here's the thing: I'd like to run a kind of masquerade encounter, where the PC's have to interview multiple NPC's and do a little detective work. I was thinking that the Citadel Captain would tell them that there's a plot against a noble, but he has little other info t ogo with, so he wants the parties to do a little undercover work and see if people will talk freely around them. Since none of the party are from Breland, people may be a little tight-lipped, but maybe not. I have the Dungeon Magazine article abotu masquerades that I plan on using to flesh out the NPC's. Here's the next part- since the players will likely want some combat during the session, I was going to have some party-crashers come in for my own, inferior version of the Ballroom Blitz. But who are the party-crashers? Emerald Claw? Bladebearers? Sons of Liberty? Who is the target? Not the PC's, that's for sure. I was thinking the target would be the noble who wants to abolish the monarchy, but who wants him dead/gone? It could also be King Kaius's niece, or maybe her double. Would this party crashing be a distraction for the real villains (other partygoers) to kidnap the real target? I was also thinking of later including a kind of scene like in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Show There's a situation where Batiatus kidnaps the town mayor (can't think of his name) and then hides him in a sewer. Batiatus leads a search for the mayor, and Ashur, Batiatus' sneaky aide, leads the rival to the sewer first, where they find the mayor is already dead. Batiatus shows up with his mob and police to see his rival with a dagger and the mayor dead.
#15 Ogiwan Jun 15, 2012 17:41:38	Actually, that's the first time I've gotten the "you're my only hope" bit. As for the necro....no prob. These boards have a crapton of brilliant threads. What was the article about masquerades? I don't remember it off the top of my head. Now, have you ever read through Whispers of the Vampire's Blade? There's a masquerade scene there that's pretty cool. Hahahaha. I remembered another facet of my Ballroom Blitz. I described a big glass dome above the ballroom, so all my player's "eyes" were (mentally) aimed upwards.....only for the specters to phase through the floor and start going to town. Anyways. Addressing what you said.....well, if there are party-crashers, why do they crash the party? What's the plot really about? Does it have to be combat at the Gala, or can the Gala just be the start of a high-action arc?
#16 nerraDetroK Jun 15, 2012 18:40:53	Masquerades were in Dungeon 190, written by Rob Schwalb. I haven't seen Whispers of the Vampire's Blade at all, but I saw this thread mentioned it. Honestly, I don't care if there is a masquerade, but I wanted to give more life to the NPC's and the Masquerade article has some good info about fleshing them out with truths, lies and ulterior motives. I LOVE the glass dome above the ballroom and wraiths rising from the floor trickery. I may end up stealing that. The reason I'd have combat there is because I think the PC's would expect some combat for the session- I have a couple of 'slayer' personas at the table and others who really like to get into RP, so I'd like to play to both styles. I envision the PC's going to the Gala as heroes, with a couple of factions vying for their attention. The Citadel asks them to do some investigation regarding a possible kidnapping plot- except they don't know who is the target and who are the kidnappers. I want to have multiple possible targets: One being Kaius' sister Haydith ir'Wynarn who is a ward of the Brelish court post-war. Another would be Lord Ruken ir'Clarn, the guy who wants to abolish the monarchy and establish a democracy in Breland. And another would be ?? someone not so high up in politics, but would be a good target for a kidnapping, like the wife or child of a Sharn mobster. The plot is really about trying to get some ideas of where the PC's want to head post- Seekers. I'd like to run the Heart of the Forbidden Forge, and I've already introduced them to the artificer Jelia from that module, it already dovetails from Seekers. One of my players is a Swordmage/Warlock hybrid and his patron is mostly unknown to him (I'm having it be Shan Syraen, the leader of Taer Syraen, the Winter Citadel, in Karrnath, who I'm having replace the Prince of Frost. He already knows that at some point, he meets his patron, who gives him a FrostBlade (so he can go all frostcheese in paragon), so I'm expecting the party to want to head to Karrnath to complete that quest. The Mournland is on the way, and so Heart of the Forbidden Forge fits in that quest. They are going to end up in Xen'Drik running through a modified Revenge of the Giants, but not for several more levels. That hook will come through meeting the Brelish son of King Boranel who explores Xen'Drik at the Tain Gala or through Morgrave University. Back to the Ballroom Blitz and attempted kidnapping: I think the target will be a noble who the PC's will end up offending at some point during the party and the kidnappers will be Aurum pretending to be Thranish troops, in an attempt to restart the war and create their own nation in Cragwar/Blackcaps. So later, when the PC's investigate, with the help of the Aurum, of course, they come across the kidnapped victim, but are too late to rescue and may end up getting blamed for the kidnapping and the victim's murder. It seems like a lot of railroading, but I'll give them plenty of outs if they choose not to go down that path. I really wanted to bounce these ideas off someone, and I know you're one of the bigger Eberron fans that posts regularly. Any advice or suggestions would be great. I have a month or so before this would happen
#17 Ogiwan Jun 16, 2012 6:52:12	Well, I was asking about if there has to be combat because....what about a chase scene? Baddies snag someone or something, run out the door, and hijack (or bring) a skycoach or airship. PCs chase after them, cue aerial chase through Sharn. Do you have the 4e ECG? There's a scene where goblins on soarsleds are attacking PCs in a skycoach; that might be fun. Once the PCs catch up to the enemies, then have a fight. Your Aurum idea is a good one. Another possibility is the Swords of Liberty, or (the ever-nefarious) Emerald Claw.
#18 Madfox11 Jun 18, 2012 8:38:41	Piece of general advice, in my experience if you want the PCs to interact with the NPCs you must give them a task that forces them to do so. Otherwise you run the risk that the PCs ignore any hooks you throw on their path and take a reactive attitude, making it a onesided affair until the attack commences. For example, if it is a masked ball, giving the PCs the tip that NPC X is going to murder NPC Y, but they have no real evidence that would convince the authorities, let alone the Tain family, so they first need to find out the disguise of X and Y and than organize something that gets to defend Y. It forces the PCs to talk with various NPCs, explore the ballroom to consider how Y can be murdered and so on. Mind you, if your players are really used to a sandbox approach and very proactive/method actors than you might not need such a thing, but even then it would still help...
#19 Ogiwan Jul 23, 2012 10:35:59	Another necro. So, to recap what happened, the party was brought into the Tain Gala to protect a member of House Kundarak and his wife (they came up with the idea of going as dates for the Dwarven pair, and the rest of the party came in as retainers). At the Gala, spectres came up through the floor and started attacking everybody. Of the 16 civilians, the PCs managed to save 15. This thread was to ask who was that 1 unlucky guy. My decision was to make it Jodrek ir'Clairyn, of the King's Citadel. Another piece of plot pertinent to this post was inspired by MrCelsius and Madfox11 in the How Did Karrnatho Not Steamroll Everyone thread. The final version was that a Morgrave professor stumbled onto hints that the Karrnathi army was, effectively, sabotaged (units saddled with new/inexperienced officers, despite the fact that Karrnath has the school to train officers). So, BBEG arranges the scholar's wife to be killed, and the scholar framed for it. With an article in the Sharn Inquisitive breathlessly talking about the horrible incident, a MP by the name of Etet Quir made a statement saying that when he was elected to the Justice Committee, such things will not blah blah blah blah. Now, due to a fair bit of plotting, my players had to leave Breland in a hurry, as they were accused of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking (I actually did work in that three, along with malfeasance, treason, and other stuff). So, they reach out to their allies in Sharn, and they find out that the guy running their investigation of the party's "crimes" was appointed by Etet Quir....to replace the guy killed at the Tain Gala. Yeah. That "Oh my god you bastard!" when the players realize the plot twist, and how tangled the conspiracy web is? Kinda like crack to me.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Ogiwan

Jul 29, 2011 17:36:34

Greetings, all! In my campaign, the PCs had to protect a member of House Kundarak. In the course of events, he was invited to the Tain Gala, so the PCs contrived to get invited/work their way in too too. Fun shenanigens there. But, in the inevitable fight that ensued, I placed 16 civilians on the table, and gave the PCs a 10 gold reward for each one that survived. However, only 14 made it.

So, who are the two who died? Why are they at the Tain Gala? How important are they?

My PCs want to cover it up.

Discuss!

Gilo

Jul 30, 2011 13:42:33

What caused to fight - who killed who?

In any case here are the two that died:

Lucius Alonso is a Cyrian poet from New-Cyre. His poem reading sessions have gained him some popularity among Sharn's elite and an invention to the Tain Gala. Lucius is also secretly connected to a cell of Cyran avengers planning something sinister in Sharn.

Saal ir'Tyran is scion of the ir'Tyran nobel famaily which were stripped of their noble rank and banished by Galifar the Dark. Five months ago Saal returned from Stormreach with an exotic but loyal entourage of ex-Red Ring gladiators and bought a few buildings in Sharn's Broken Arch district, he's been known to spend allot of gold trying to get the acceptance of the local nobles.

Ogiwan

Jul 31, 2011 6:27:44

Much appreciated, Gilo.

The story behind the death is that a d'Kundarak had someone trying to disgrace and/or kill him. When he arrived at the Tain Gala, there was some quiet which the PCs used to interact (one of the characters got into a screaming match with his father, the other traded barbs with his boss). Eventually, some incoporial undead popped up through the floor (everyone thought baddies were coming in through the cealing).

But, anybody else is welcome to throw in their suggestions!

Ogiwan

Aug 06, 2011 21:34:45

Because of my job, I have another week's respite. I don't know why, but I am totally drawing a blank. My players are really looking forward to RPing out some damage control and attempt to stop word of the "Ballroom Blitz" (as they referred to it) from leaking to the media. But....I just can't seem to come up with any interesting casualties. Hence why I'm asking for the help of the forumgoers.

Azzibeel

Aug 07, 2011 17:47:20

Victim number one

Mala Boromar d’Jorasco wife of Saidan Boromar. Page 150 of Sharn City of towers. They are both frequently at the Tain Gala. That should be fun to cover up the wife of the head of the halfling mob and a member of house Jorasco.

Victim number two may be more of a whole new plot than you were looking for but my brain started churning and it is hard to stop it when that happens.

The Mystery Guest. A human woman in her mid twenties that no one present knows who she is and no one saw her during the Gala or the fight. During the process of discovering her identity it is found she is dragonmarked member of house Orien. Encricling her dragonmark is a series of profane tattoos in Abyssal, Draconic, and Deep Speech. All the tattoos combine to complete a ritual that completely dominated the woman and made her an walking arcane bomb. Included in the tattoo is the name of her target, a high ranking powerful guest or even the house member the players were highered to protect. The ritual would complete when she touched the target and blow them both, and everyone with in 10 feet, to peices in one spectacular explosion. On further Arcane investigation the ritual is powered and sustained by her dragonmark.
Good luck keeping that out of the papers. Abducted Dragonmarked being used as bombs to assasinate the rich and powerful. Especially after another dragonmarked is stopped or succeeds at another assasination.

ellorin

Aug 09, 2011 7:15:49

Hrofan Soldorak, vice director of the Sharn Branch of the Soldorak Bank. Kundarak and its hirelings might take the blame.

Rana the maid, a 17-year old girl of rather attractive looks, usualy considered to have the brains of a prawn. It was quite a shock when she turned out to be a hag in disguise...

Ogiwan

Aug 09, 2011 16:24:22

*cackle*

Good so far. Interesting stuff, certaintly.

Gilo

Aug 10, 2011 21:44:24

Adding a few quick ones:

- The Breland Ledger's Food and Wine editor-in-chief
- Aerenal ambassador
- Riedra ambassador
- Haydith Ir'Wynarn (five nations p.59): fifteen year old sister of Kaius III, Breland's 'hostage'
- capt. Sortan, head of the The King’s Shields (head of royal security)
- Lord Ruken ir'Clarn, member of parliament

a follow-up idea

The person behind the attack knows Sharn like the back of his hand, he easily slipped unseen in and out of the lower parts of the tower (even with the enhanced security) while using ancient pathways which non of the tower's residents knew existed.

He seems to know Sharn's history well and where all the bodies are buried - literally: as he dug out the remains of the executed ir'Tyran family from their mausoleum at the City of the Dead and ritually placed them below the Tain Gala hall to be resurrected as vengeful spirits.

The PCs maybe unaware that this is not the antagonist first attempt to leverage their House Kundarak patron to deliver him the contents of vault #13 in the Kundarak Bank Of Sharn.

Ogiwan

Aug 14, 2011 8:50:17

Hahaha. Gilo, nice to see you. There's no way I could kill off ir'Clarn, as his push for true democracy is just a wonderful way to make him a villian.

My decision is that one of the people killed will be a high-ranking member of the King's Citadel, which will allow the Swords of Liberty to hold his death up as a rallying point, start agitating, and so on and so forth.

edit: I'm going to have to make a poster or flyer.....

#10

Gilo

Aug 14, 2011 15:37:06

I once used a tavern named "The Goblin King" as the Swords of Liberty loyalist meting place (based on the "Indian King Tavern" from the American revolution history) its kind of a "Patriot Games" moment when the PCs walk in...

I think that when facing the Swords of Liberty their relative-strength is in the home court advantage: Brelish loyalist to their cause which the PC may not necessarily meet in a combat encounter but can make life very hard for the PCs. a judge or a low level city bureaucrat -examples:

- The PCs get a SoL member arrested but discover he was immediately releases on some technicality.
- The PCs get pickpocketed in the upper parts of the city or their inn room was broken into (by someone with a key).
- The PCs are detained on some bogus charge.
- The PCs property (house/horses/airship) impounded by the city for not paying taxes or some minor code-violation.
- A local vendor sell them a non-functional feather fall charm or a poisoned healing potion.

All because they SoL spread the word - making the PCs 'marked' while in Breland (and its all done via SoL sympathizers that can't even lead the PCs back to the actual militant-wing of the SoL responsable for the attack).

#11

Ogiwan

Aug 14, 2011 19:31:54

Hah. Well done, Gilo. I may have to borrow some of that for when I run the SoL. I've never paid attention to them, at all, in the past. Now, well, I'm finding that they have a use.

Also, here is the flyer that I made:

PEOPLE OF BRELAND, HEAR US!

We, the Swords of Liberty who fight in the name of YOUR freedom, announce the death of a Royalist lackey who oppressed the innocent citizens of our fair country!

JODREK ir'Clairyn, of the King's Citadel

met his end screaming and weeping like one of the commoners he so regularly derided at the Tain Gala on Far, 6 Zarantyr, 998 YK!

His death was a sanctioned operation by the Swords of Liberty, with the aim of removing one of the MANY parasites in our "government" who rob the people of their hard-earned wages, deny them their freedoms, and, by the nature of an accident of birth, hold themselves above the teeming masses whose hard labors are responsible for the wealth, success, and station of those who feed off of the common citizen.

His death proves that the nobility is, in fact, no more or less noble than the "commoners." It also shows that those who sit at the pinnacle of society are unable to solve any problem that cannot be bought, either by money or by legal action. Truly, if a class cannot extend the basic protection expected of a host, how can they possibly interact with anyone on an equitable level?

Why, fellow Brelanders, do we allow these incompetent nobles to guide our country?

Why do we allow them to leech our wealth and happiness?

Why should we not cast them down?

The death of this vile oppressor opens a crack in the wall protecting those of privilege! Join us in opening that fissure, so prosperity and equality will flow to all in Breland, and in Khorvaire!

#12

dmnate

Nov 29, 2011 14:47:15

Nice. Have always loved the SoL as a sympathetic "villainous" organization. Have great plans for them in my own campaign.

#13

Ogiwan

Dec 01, 2011 20:08:49

Well, tell us! If you dare.

#14

nerraDetroK

Jun 14, 2012 14:48:54

sorry for the thread Necro, but this is a smilar topic to what I'm planning for my PC's and I wanted some advice.

I'm finishing up Seekers of the Ashen Crown for my PC's. Since they start and end the adveture series in the tunnels in the Tain Foundry, I thought I'd have the owner invite the party to the Tain Gala as a reward for wiping out the Kruthik and for finding the Ashen Crown itself.
Yes, I plan on exposing the PC's as the new owners of the Crown and then seeing what happens next- most likely more Emerald Claw and Bladebearer ambushes.

Here's the thing: I'd like to run a kind of masquerade encounter, where the PC's have to interview multiple NPC's and do a little detective work. I was thinking that the Citadel Captain would tell them that there's a plot against a noble, but he has little other info t ogo with, so he wants the parties to do a little undercover work and see if people will talk freely around them. Since none of the party are from Breland, people may be a little tight-lipped, but maybe not. I have the Dungeon Magazine article abotu masquerades that I plan on using to flesh out the NPC's.

Here's the next part- since the players will likely want some combat during the session, I was going to have some party-crashers come in for my own, inferior version of the Ballroom Blitz. But who are the party-crashers? Emerald Claw? Bladebearers? Sons of Liberty? Who is the target? Not the PC's, that's for sure.
I was thinking the target would be the noble who wants to abolish the monarchy, but who wants him dead/gone? It could also be King Kaius's niece, or maybe her double. Would this party crashing be a distraction for the real villains (other partygoers) to kidnap the real target?

I was also thinking of later including a kind of scene like in Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Show

There's a situation where Batiatus kidnaps the town mayor (can't think of his name) and then hides him in a sewer. Batiatus leads a search for the mayor, and Ashur, Batiatus' sneaky aide, leads the rival to the sewer first, where they find the mayor is already dead. Batiatus shows up with his mob and police to see his rival with a dagger and the mayor dead.

#15

Ogiwan

Jun 15, 2012 17:41:38

Actually, that's the first time I've gotten the "you're my only hope" bit. As for the necro....no prob. These boards have a crapton of brilliant threads.

What was the article about masquerades? I don't remember it off the top of my head.

Now, have you ever read through Whispers of the Vampire's Blade? There's a masquerade scene there that's pretty cool.

Hahahaha. I remembered another facet of my Ballroom Blitz. I described a big glass dome above the ballroom, so all my player's "eyes" were (mentally) aimed upwards.....only for the specters to phase through the floor and start going to town.

Anyways. Addressing what you said.....well, if there are party-crashers, why do they crash the party? What's the plot really about? Does it have to be combat at the Gala, or can the Gala just be the start of a high-action arc?

#16

nerraDetroK

Jun 15, 2012 18:40:53

Masquerades were in Dungeon 190, written by Rob Schwalb.
I haven't seen Whispers of the Vampire's Blade at all, but I saw this thread mentioned it.

Honestly, I don't care if there is a masquerade, but I wanted to give more life to the NPC's and the Masquerade article has some good info about fleshing them out with truths, lies and ulterior motives.

I LOVE the glass dome above the ballroom and wraiths rising from the floor trickery. I may end up stealing that.

The reason I'd have combat there is because I think the PC's would expect some combat for the session- I have a couple of 'slayer' personas at the table and others who really like to get into RP, so I'd like to play to both styles.

I envision the PC's going to the Gala as heroes, with a couple of factions vying for their attention. The Citadel asks them to do some investigation regarding a possible kidnapping plot- except they don't know who is the target and who are the kidnappers.

I want to have multiple possible targets: One being Kaius' sister Haydith ir'Wynarn who is a ward of the Brelish court post-war. Another would be Lord Ruken ir'Clarn, the guy who wants to abolish the monarchy and establish a democracy in Breland. And another would be ?? someone not so high up in politics, but would be a good target for a kidnapping, like the wife or child of a Sharn mobster.

The plot is really about trying to get some ideas of where the PC's want to head post- Seekers. I'd like to run the Heart of the Forbidden Forge, and I've already introduced them to the artificer Jelia from that module, it already dovetails from Seekers. One of my players is a Swordmage/Warlock hybrid and his patron is mostly unknown to him (I'm having it be Shan Syraen, the leader of Taer Syraen, the Winter Citadel, in Karrnath, who I'm having replace the Prince of Frost. He already knows that at some point, he meets his patron, who gives him a FrostBlade (so he can go all frostcheese in paragon), so I'm expecting the party to want to head to Karrnath to complete that quest. The Mournland is on the way, and so Heart of the Forbidden Forge fits in that quest.

They are going to end up in Xen'Drik running through a modified Revenge of the Giants, but not for several more levels. That hook will come through meeting the Brelish son of King Boranel who explores Xen'Drik at the Tain Gala or through Morgrave University.

Back to the Ballroom Blitz and attempted kidnapping: I think the target will be a noble who the PC's will end up offending at some point during the party and the kidnappers will be Aurum pretending to be Thranish troops, in an attempt to restart the war and create their own nation in Cragwar/Blackcaps.
So later, when the PC's investigate, with the help of the Aurum, of course, they come across the kidnapped victim, but are too late to rescue and may end up getting blamed for the kidnapping and the victim's murder.
It seems like a lot of railroading, but I'll give them plenty of outs if they choose not to go down that path.

I really wanted to bounce these ideas off someone, and I know you're one of the bigger Eberron fans that posts regularly.
Any advice or suggestions would be great. I have a month or so before this would happen

#17

Ogiwan

Jun 16, 2012 6:52:12

Well, I was asking about if there has to be combat because....what about a chase scene? Baddies snag someone or something, run out the door, and hijack (or bring) a skycoach or airship. PCs chase after them, cue aerial chase through Sharn. Do you have the 4e ECG? There's a scene where goblins on soarsleds are attacking PCs in a skycoach; that might be fun. Once the PCs catch up to the enemies, then have a fight.

Your Aurum idea is a good one. Another possibility is the Swords of Liberty, or (the ever-nefarious) Emerald Claw.

#18

Madfox11

Jun 18, 2012 8:38:41

Piece of general advice, in my experience if you want the PCs to interact with the NPCs you must give them a task that forces them to do so. Otherwise you run the risk that the PCs ignore any hooks you throw on their path and take a reactive attitude, making it a onesided affair until the attack commences. For example, if it is a masked ball, giving the PCs the tip that NPC X is going to murder NPC Y, but they have no real evidence that would convince the authorities, let alone the Tain family, so they first need to find out the disguise of X and Y and than organize something that gets to defend Y. It forces the PCs to talk with various NPCs, explore the ballroom to consider how Y can be murdered and so on.

Mind you, if your players are really used to a sandbox approach and very proactive/method actors than you might not need such a thing, but even then it would still help...

#19

Ogiwan

Jul 23, 2012 10:35:59

Another necro. So, to recap what happened, the party was brought into the Tain Gala to protect a member of House Kundarak and his wife (they came up with the idea of going as dates for the Dwarven pair, and the rest of the party came in as retainers). At the Gala, spectres came up through the floor and started attacking everybody. Of the 16 civilians, the PCs managed to save 15. This thread was to ask who was that 1 unlucky guy.

My decision was to make it Jodrek ir'Clairyn, of the King's Citadel.

Another piece of plot pertinent to this post was inspired by MrCelsius and Madfox11 in the How Did Karrnatho Not Steamroll Everyone thread. The final version was that a Morgrave professor stumbled onto hints that the Karrnathi army was, effectively, sabotaged (units saddled with new/inexperienced officers, despite the fact that Karrnath has the school to train officers). So, BBEG arranges the scholar's wife to be killed, and the scholar framed for it. With an article in the Sharn Inquisitive breathlessly talking about the horrible incident, a MP by the name of Etet Quir made a statement saying that when he was elected to the Justice Committee, such things will not blah blah blah blah.

Now, due to a fair bit of plotting, my players had to leave Breland in a hurry, as they were accused of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking (I actually did work in that three, along with malfeasance, treason, and other stuff). So, they reach out to their allies in Sharn, and they find out that the guy running their investigation of the party's "crimes" was appointed by Etet Quir....to replace the guy killed at the Tain Gala.

Yeah. That "Oh my god you bastard!" when the players realize the plot twist, and how tangled the conspiracy web is? Kinda like crack to me.