Plot ideas for Eberron Detective Noir set in Sharn

[ShaggyMarco]

See title:

I will be running a game for 2 of my friends using DnD 4ed. The premise of the game is that they will be playing a pair of hard-boiled private detectives for hire in Sharn. The feel may occasionally drift from Noir Crime to Buddy Cop action.

I don't know what they are playing yet, but we will start level 4.

I have a couple of story ideas, but I'd love more.

IDEAS
-Serial Killer who is preying on different dragon-marked people, leaving them dead and their mark cut out of their skin. He's a crazed artificer trying to create a special Dragonmarked Flesh Golem. Alternately, he might be an insane Morgrave scholar trying to piece together a full scroll of flesh in order to decipher the Draconic Prophecy

[Danin]

- Kalashtar approach the PCs and inform them of a missing cleric of the Path of Light. His study was later found in ruins, and blood dots the floor. No demands of ransom have yet been made, and no objects of value seem to be missing. Has he been murdered? Kidnapped? And is it the work of gangs he secretly held allegiance to? Or perhaps the dark hand of the inspired reaches further than any dared to think...

- Brother Chaplain Micha of the Silver Flame has come to the PCs with a rather odd request. He asks them to track down an object taken from him, only he does not know what it is. He has no recollection of the object other than some fleeting visions and a sense that something is missing, and a journal of his that references "the stone" in his own writing. Whatever it was, Micha once knew of it, and it was precious to him indeed. Could this be the work of the Blood of Vol? Or a cover up within the Church itself? Only the PC's can help him now, the authorities laughing at the prospect.

- Esmond D'Lyrander, seneschal of house Lyrander, has before him a troubling case. Upon arrival back in Sharn from a recent expedition to Xen'Drik the cargo of an airship seems to have vanished before it could be unloaded. The cargo, being transported by house Lyrander on behalf of another Dragon Marked house, was an expensive shipment of Xen'Drik dragon shards, set to be exchanged in 3 days time. Without the shards, accusations of double crossing could lead to open war between the two houses, an eventuality the Senschal is not willing to let happen. Who is behind the theft? House Lyrander? The other Dragon Marked house? The criminal element? Or maybe elements working from within...

Really, there's a million ideas out there. I have more if ya need em.

[ShaggyMarco]

Thanks! those are cool ideas.

They are making PCs now. Looks like they'll play a Changeling Essentials Thief and a Half-Orc or Dwarf Brawler fighter.

I'm thinking the Lyrandar heist might be a good starting point.

Of course, I'll take any future suggestions.

[Fishy]

Changlings. So many changelings.

- A Hysterical Dame comes in to the office, convinced that her husband is cheating on her with another woman. Turns out he's a changeling, and 'he' has a husband and two kids in another part of town. Has the Dame really been married to a changeling for years without realizing it? Or has her husband been the victim of an identity theft? And why is the changeling acting jumpy all of a sudden?

- Meanwhile, yet another Changeling washes up dead by the river- naked, no identification, jaw smashed apart. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/speakWithDead.htm) How do you catch a serial killer when you have no idea who the victims are?

- Meanwhile, someone shows up at the office with a list of names. He claims to be a respected voice in the Changeling community, who is being stalked and blackmailed, by a psychopath. The stalker claims to have found out the names and aliases of the Cabinet of Faces, the secret changeling conspiracy that runs everything, and has been threatening to publish, and ruin all of their lives. The changeling claims that not only is there no Cabinet of Faces, but also half of the list aren't even changelings. Who do you believe? Who do you protect?

- Meanwhile, a whole bunch of perfectly innocent changelings decide that now is a really good time to get the heck out of Sharn, prompting a string of missing-persons cases. Who's innocent? Who's fleeing from the law? Who's been grabbed by the changeling-killer?

- Meanwhile, the PCs catch a glimpse of an Umbral Spy, a mind-reading spy construct from Forge of War, made from shadow magic and dead changelings. Who's building them? Where are the 'parts' coming from? Who's being spied on?

- Meanwhile, the Capgras delusion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion). Who's paranoid-schizophrenic, and who has actually had all their friends replaced by mindreading shapeshifters?

For bonus points, end the campaign with the PCs waking up, as changelings, in a Cabinet of Faces interrogation room: being thanked for their cooperation, praised for their performance, and apologized to for all the deep-cover brainwashing.

[Noedig]

Oddly enough there was a PbP game that used this exact setting. It never got off the grounds though. The DM mysteriously disappeared after maybe a week, which made me very sad cause my Changeling Rogue was gonna be win.

[Salbazier]

Ah, I remember that game (or rather the recruitment thread). Too bad.

Hmm, this is interesting. I've been looking for similiar ideas myself

[stainboy]

Oddly enough there was a PbP game that used this exact setting. It never got off the grounds though. The DM mysteriously disappeared after maybe a week, which made me very sad cause my Changeling Rogue was gonna be win.

That was me. Sorry about that...

I had to do most of my posting from work, and I'd never run a PbP game before so I didn't realize exactly how much of my work time I was committing to not working. Then a couple weeks later my job started requiring me to do things other than sit at a computer waiting for something to break, and that was the end of that. Anyway I should have said something.