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View Full Version : [3.5 Eberron] Plot-thread Help. Criticism Welcome



Beelzebub1111
2010-01-23, 11:28 PM
So, I'm thinking about a long-term adventure path for my players. And since I know that none of them post here, I'd figure there'd be no harm in bouncing the idea off you forumites.

Little bit of background (all that's needed), 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting, One of my players is a dragonmarked of house orien, and she's probably going to go all the way to Greater.

Now for the story:
Around 200 years ago, a black dragon named <name to be determined later, suggestions would be appreciated> had her clutch stolen from her by an unknown entity. She instantly became furious attempting to decipher draconic prophecy to find her children, but to no avail. She eventually gave up on her attempts and saught other means to find her children, (or at this point, get revenge). Having spent most of her Hoard on scrying and divining and the most extensive searches immaginable, she finally found a clue. The approximate location in Khyber where her captors took her eggs. She was now looking for a way to get there and tear the bastards to shreds whoever they are.

She recently saw an opportunity in the aforementioned player character. Once she manifested her least dragonmark she caught her interest. The dragon would keep an eye on this one as she progressed. She learned of a ritual to make a greater mark into a temporary Syberis mark. good for about two uses. A second ritual could strip a dragonmark from another and put it on a dragon, killing the marked, but granting her the power for her revenge.

She plans to kidnap the PC, take her back to her lair and preform these rituals, giving her her sweet revenge. She will attempt to kidnap (grapple check with a -20 to still be able to fly away, if I'm not mistake) the PC and take her to her lair in Q'barra.

Naturally the party would be opposed to this so a rescue is in order. After a medium difficulty dungeon crawl (Blackscale and Poison Dusk Lizardfolk under the dragon's command, plus the guerrilla tactics of the dragon herself.) culminate in a faceoff in the ritual chamber, just as the transfer ritual is taking place. Once either side is subdued, the dragon will explain her situation. Giving the party a chance to help, either way. Reward being a single item from the dragon's hoard for each person (good stuff to pick from, I may not be an ad hoc, but I'm sure not a penny pincher. I also love giving the Illusion of Choice)

If they take the deal (which they probably should, all things considered) They will be transported using the Temporary Syberis Mark. The dragon will keep an eye on them through her scrying pool. (but there are certain things that she will not see)

After seeing some old friends (flumphs from the very first module I ran (Box of Flumph) and random Khyber encounters, The players find the culprit: Illithids, Basically experimenting on the dragons to create a superweapon. the first attempt was Just them injecting Xoriat Magic directly into it's DNA (so to speak) and resulted in a Squamous Spewer. Their second attempt was much more successful, A pair of unique dragons that prove to breed true. (These will be Lunar Dragons from the Dragonmech setting)

The exploration results in a climactic battle with the "Xoriat Dragons" (the two adults and several offspring, probably in separate rooms to avoid TPK) being controlled by the Illithid using a specialized rod of dragon control. yadda yadda yadda, give report, get the reward, Quest XPs.


Things that can go wrong:
1) They kill the black dragon. At any point durring the story. In this case, I'll say "Good job" give them their xps and possibly the Hoard. They'll need it for the invasion that will take place possibly two or so adventures later when the Illithid's plan to invade the surface is complete.

Questions? Concerns? Compliments? Complaints? Other things that can go wrong?

Elfin
2010-01-23, 11:46 PM
It sounds like a great story - but one question comes to mind.
What will the kidnapped player be doing while the others attempt to rescue them?

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-23, 11:48 PM
It sounds like a great story - but one question comes to mind.
What will the kidnapped player be doing while the others attempt to rescue them?
RPing with the dragon and running the party's henchman if she's up for it.

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-24, 09:06 AM
I'm not really one to bump without content, So I'll give this some more info:

The level of for this around 10, The dragon is Old. Question: Am I right about the grapple thing? I'm not entirely sure.

DabblerWizard
2010-01-24, 11:30 AM
So, I'm thinking about a long-term adventure path for my players...

Little bit of background (all that's needed), 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting, One of my players is a dragonmarked of house orien, and she's probably going to go all the way to Greater.

Now for the story:
Around 200 years ago, a black dragon ... had her clutch stolen from her by an unknown entity. She instantly became furious attempting to decipher draconic prophecy to find her children, but to no avail. She eventually gave up on her attempts and saught other means to find her children, (or at this point, get revenge). Having spent most of her Hoard on scrying and divining and the most extensive searches immaginable, she finally found a clue. The approximate location in Khyber where her captors took her eggs. She was now looking for a way to get there and tear the bastards to shreds whoever they are.

She recently saw an opportunity in the aforementioned player character. Once she manifested her least dragonmark she caught her interest. The dragon would keep an eye on this one as she progressed. She learned of a ritual to make a greater mark into a temporary Syberis mark. good for about two uses. A second ritual could strip a dragonmark from another and put it on a dragon, killing the marked, but granting her the power for her revenge.

She plans to kidnap the PC, take her back to her lair and preform these rituals, giving her her sweet revenge. She will attempt to kidnap (grapple check with a -20 to still be able to fly away, if I'm not mistake) the PC and take her to her lair in Q'barra.

Naturally the party would be opposed to this so a rescue is in order. After a medium difficulty dungeon crawl (Blackscale and Poison Dusk Lizardfolk under the dragon's command, plus the guerrilla tactics of the dragon herself.) culminate in a faceoff in the ritual chamber, just as the transfer ritual is taking place. Once either side is subdued, the dragon will explain her situation. Giving the party a chance to help, either way. Reward being a single item from the dragon's hoard for each person (good stuff to pick from, I may not be an ad hoc, but I'm sure not a penny pincher. I also love giving the Illusion of Choice)

If they take the deal (which they probably should, all things considered) They will be transported using the Temporary Syberis Mark. The dragon will keep an eye on them through her scrying pool. (but there are certain things that she will not see)

After seeing some old friends (flumphs from the very first module I ran (Box of Flumph) and random Khyber encounters, The players find the culprit: Illithids, Basically experimenting on the dragons to create a superweapon. the first attempt was Just them injecting Xoriat Magic directly into it's DNA (so to speak) and resulted in a Squamous Spewer. Their second attempt was much more successful, A pair of unique dragons that prove to breed true. (These will be Lunar Dragons from the Dragonmech setting)

The exploration results in a climactic battle with the "Xoriat Dragons" (the two adults and several offspring, probably in separate rooms to avoid TPK) being controlled by the Illithid using a specialized rod of dragon control. yadda yadda yadda, give report, get the reward, Quest XPs.


Things that can go wrong:
1) They kill the black dragon. At any point durring the story. In this case, I'll say "Good job" give them their xps and possibly the Hoard. They'll need it for the invasion that will take place possibly two or so adventures later when the Illithid's plan to invade the surface is complete.

Questions? Concerns? Compliments? Complaints? Other things that can go wrong?


You're described a single, sizable, adventure. The background is interesting, though you'll have to figure out what the players are doing before, in between, and after, this whole adventure takes place.

For example, how many quests will the party go on before the dragon steals the dragon marked player? There are surely other dragon marked people running around in the world. Maybe the dragon wants to see how powerful this character is, because the ritual requires a strong willed subject or they won't survive the encounter.

If your sole method of catching this player involves a grapple check, you'll be sorely out of luck if you fail it. And as far as verisimilitude goes, surely an Old dragon has better techniques and powers than just scoop-and-go. Here's another place where you can engage your creative license.

Why should the Illithids only steal eggs from one dragon? They've already proven their skill by stealing from an Old dragon, why not keep up the trend and steal some more? If these NPCs are sort of medieval scientists, maybe they want to be extra careful and obtain more eggs than necessary just to be on the safe side. Or maybe they want to build up a whole army of mutated dragons.

Following this line of thought, maybe the mass clutch stealing leads to a chromatic dragon rampage as multiple dragons decide to ravage the landscape until they find their eggs.

What about after the big boss battle with the Xoriat Dragons? Were these rogue illithids killed? Were they part of a larger group taking part in sinister experiments?

Good story idea. Let us know how it turns out.

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-24, 01:55 PM
Good points. These players have been playing since level 1, so before is established. After...Probably reporting back to Kawanti about why they were in Q'Barra in the first place (Needed dragonshards to repair the bridge across Scion's Sound, this will take place either before, during, or after this is resolved. probably after.)

I figure the reason they only took from one dragon is
1) They don't want the attention that you described. An epedemic of missing eggs would attract too much attention from the Chanber, but one dragon with only tenuous ties to the chamber missing her eggs would easily be overlooked.
2) They aren't quite sure what would happen in the first place. This project was a trial and took this long to get the results that they did.

As for concequenses and levels of victory:
If the players kill all the Xoriat Dragons and research, but the a few of mindflayers escape, they will set the project back over 200 years.
If the players kill every last mind-flayer and their slaves that they come across, as well as the dragons and research, they will have nipped this project in the bud.
If they leave at least two of the dragons alive but kill all of the mindflayers or at least destroy their controlling rod, they will have introduced a wild, uncontrollable, and insane species into a new species into an ecosystem, even in one as rough as khyber could have grave consequences:
A) They could go to the top of the monster ecosystem wiping out a lesser species.
B) They could become the pets of another, worse group. Such as the Lords of Dust, or the Delkyr.
C) They could seek out their own hoards as true dragons, spreading the ecosystem of dragons from above ground to Khyber below.

DabblerWizard
2010-01-24, 03:41 PM
Good ideas.

It sounds like you've got a good couple scenarios figured out. I find this kind of preparation fairly helpful when preparing a campaign, or an adventure.

AslanCross
2010-01-24, 06:03 PM
Wow, this is a pretty good background for an adventure. In Eberron it tends to get difficult to put together high-level adventures if you stay aboveground on Khorvaire, so bringing it down to Khyber and tangling with the illithids is a good idea.

pffh
2010-01-24, 06:29 PM
I can't help much since my knowledge of eberron is limited to my the two weeks I played DDO but I can help with the name, here is my go to list of names (from the viking poem Völuspá, edited all non-name words out of it):
#
Nýi, Niđi,
Norđri, Suđri,
Austri, Vestri,
Alţjófur, Dvalinn,
Bívör, Bávör,
Bömbur, Nóri,
Án, Ánar,
Ái, Mjöđvitnir.

#
Veigur, Gandálfur,
Vindálfur, Ţráinn,
Ţekkur, Ţorinn,
Ţrár, Vitur, Litur,
Nár, Nýráđur,
- Reginn, Ráđsviđur, -


Fíli, Kíli,
Fundinn, Náli,
Hefti, Víli,
Hannar, Svíur,
Frár, Hornbori,
Frćgur, Lóni,
Aurvangur, Jari,
Eikinskjaldi.
#
Ţar var Draupnir
Dólgţrasir,
Hár, Haugspori,
Hlévangur, Glói,
Skirvir, Virvir,
Skáfiđur, Ái.

#
Álfur og Yngvi,
Eikinskjaldi,
Fjalar, Frosti,
Finnur, Ginnar;

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-25, 09:30 AM
Wow, this is a pretty good background for an adventure. In Eberron it tends to get difficult to put together high-level adventures if you stay aboveground on Khorvaire, so bringing it down to Khyber and tangling with the illithids is a good idea.


Good ideas.

It sounds like you've got a good couple scenarios figured out. I find this kind of preparation fairly helpful when preparing a campaign, or an adventure.

Thanks for the compliments, but what I really need is advice. There must be something that I'm missing, I'm just can't see it because I wrote it. Like, I understand what you're saying about the snatch and grab, but Any ideas on how to do it otherwise?

AslanCross
2010-01-25, 03:43 PM
One thing I did notice: If the dragon is kidnapping the PC, how will the PC play while she's captured? If the dragon fails to grapple (not likely, I know, but action points do crazy things), what happens to the rest of the plot? An awful lot of the chain of events seems to hinge entirely on how successful the capture is.

GreyMantle
2010-01-25, 03:52 PM
Comments:

If the PCs do take the deal with the dragon, does this mean that the Orien PC is dead? If this has been a long campaign, the player may not wish to give up her character just cuz the plot is suggestive of it.

I know that, if I were a PC kidnapped as part of the story, I would be kinda bummed if all I got to do was roleplay with the dragons and her guards while the other characters do interesting stuff. Roleplaying is fun, but sitting around while the others do stuff is not.
Is there maybe some NPC cohort or ally that that player could take over while they're looking for her?
Also, to heighten the suspense, I would maybe try to hold the sessions with the kidnapped character without any of the other players. That way they'll be totally left in the dark as to what's happening with their friend.

To make this adventure seem like less of a "out of nowhere" type thing, you could let the PC's hear stories that dragonmarked characters (do they all have to be Orien?) are getting kidnapped by...something. (depending on how subtle the plan eventually is-i am also not for just doing a simple snatch, that sounds way too chancy even with the crazy grapple bonuses of the dragon) If the PC's are all totally hardcore, it makes sense that the dragon would try to capture weaker prey first.

And, although you doubtlessly realize it already, dragons are seriously complicated beasties to run, and even trickier to run properly. Even the thought of running an adventure with multiple dragons is enough to give me a headache, especially if more than one dragon might be in the same encounter.
You obviously have (literal or metaphorical) cojones of steel.

But, if you do it properly, this sounds like it could be a seriously interesting adventure. Good work.

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-25, 04:20 PM
One thing I did notice: If the dragon is kidnapping the PC, how will the PC play while she's captured? If the dragon fails to grapple (not likely, I know, but action points do crazy things), what happens to the rest of the plot? An awful lot of the chain of events seems to hinge entirely on how successful the capture is.

I thought about that, and as I mentioned before, There is an NPC in the group (Their decision to take her along, not mine) that she could easily take over, and she can have RP with the Dragon.

As for the capture, I'm having trouble coming up with backups: Dimensional Anchor to stop tricky teleporting is a given. If they kill her at any point, I've given what would happen then. If they beat her up the first time, but not kill her she'd probably run away, back to her lair in the swamp. Greedy player, being as they are, would probably follow feeling confidant in their victory where a trap may be sprung. Beyond that, I have no ideas.


Comments:

If the PCs do take the deal with the dragon, does this mean that the Orien PC is dead? If this has been a long campaign, the player may not wish to give up her character just cuz the plot is suggestive of it.

The deal is: Your friend lives, and you get to pick something from my hoard if you use the temporary mark to do what I was going to do.



To make this adventure seem like less of a "out of nowhere" type thing, you could let the PC's hear stories that dragonmarked characters (do they all have to be Orien?) are getting kidnapped by...something.

Subtle hints have been given. Like feelings of being watched, a recurring background character (a pale woman with long black hair and green eyes, in the marked character's perifferal vision, then disappearing a moment later) Occasionally a strange feeling of being watched when all alone. The dragon had only recently found the location of where her children were taken, and she needs someone with a greater dragonmark that doesn't have a huge job in the guild like a courrier or a teleporter, someone who would be likely to go missing anyways.



And, although you doubtlessly realize it already, dragons are seriously complicated beasties to run, and even trickier to run properly. Even the thought of running an adventure with multiple dragons is enough to give me a headache, especially if more than one dragon might be in the same encounter.
You obviously have (literal or metaphorical) cojones of steel.

Thanks but only one is a "Real" dragon. the others will be a bit like...animals. Controlled, insane, yet clever animals, but animals none-the-less. No harder than a gang of mind, flayers if you ask me. And it's not like Lunar Dragons have those tricky magics and spell like abilities to worry about.

Beelzebub1111
2010-02-20, 07:42 AM
Okay, I revised my capture plan, She is going to set up an ambush from the Cold Sun lizardfolk tribes, and wait for them to use their per day abilities, the turn before she enters combat she'll cast displacement on herself, then, entering combat, fire her dimensional anchor from her ring of spell storing, Finally she will attempt her grapple check on the target. She won't use her breath weapon until the target is in her grasp.

Sound plan?

Doomboy911
2010-02-20, 12:11 PM
She could always have a wizard cast clone on her so if she gets killed she has a backup to deliver the message.

Beelzebub1111
2010-02-20, 08:20 PM
She could always have a wizard cast clone on her so if she gets killed she has a backup to deliver the message.

I'm not a fan of clones, being a spider-man fan in the 90s has left a lot of bad memories. :P

Beelzebub1111
2010-03-06, 11:03 PM
Okay, I thought of a few encounters for her lair:
First the mood:
Ankle deep in water for most of the dungeon except for the hoard chamber, An underwater entryways and exits, the ritual chamber, and the divining chamber.

Hallways lit in shadowy illumination with bioluminescent mushrooms controlled with the plant growth spell. Low Light Vision can see normally without penalty.


Have the dragon in her human form act as a prisoner...Yes, I know cliche, but give her a beleavable fake story rather than a random prisoner. Have her say that the dragon that captured their team member is male and is looking to "produce offspring".

Just might be squick enough to explain why she's hanging around a dungeon and not eaten by said dragon without having the party ask questions. If they get suspicious she'll cast strength of the true form silenced for an immediate action and kick the snot out of them then resume guerrilla tactics.


a short one:

long empty hallway with Magical Darkness, Blackscale lizardfolk barbarian 3 with a readied action to clobber the first thing that comes through the darkness. full power attack with greatclub.


Another ambush

Large open chamber, some rocky outcroppings, 10 basic Poison Dusk Lizard folk hiding, and 1 6th level ranger for a leader.