After Mourning - Campaign Log

[3SecondCultist]

"After Mourning"

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Welcome to another campaign log! This will be the single source of all game records for my campaign 'After Mourning' (pretty obvious). I tried to play this game on the forums, but unfortunately it didn't get past past the first dreadful combat. So I'm taking another crack at it! This time, it will be from a pen-and-paper angle, with my friends at school. I'm the DM (a role that I have historically filled for my friend group), and as such the campaign log will include not just the story, but also DMing matters - choices of planning, of the game in session, and other such matters. Sort of like a journal for my thought process, as it were.


Initial Notes:
1) The log assumes that you have some knowledge of the Eberron setting and general metaplot, so I won't be going into full details when it comes to certain topics. If that were the case, we would never get anywhere. So while there will be a bit of explanation if a new element is introduced, for the most part I won't be spending an abundance of time playing keep-up.
2) My group will only be playing this game about once every 2 weeks, which means that updates are somewhat long off. No one more than me wish I had a chance to update sooner!
3) I tend to write fairly extensively. Some people like it, some people don't. The setting blurb below is a pretty good example of how thorough I tend to be in these types of games. My players are familiar with my style, so they know what to expect from me. Everyone else: you have been warned.

In this first post, I will be outlining the differences between my setting and the average Eberron game, introducing my players and foreshadowing some of the elements to come. Those will be updated as we get closer to the start date, sometime around the 16th of September.


Background:
The year is 1057 YK, and Merrix d’Cannith - the last hope for Khorvaire - is dying.

The past decades have seen many changes across the surface of Eberron’s most populous continent. The mortal races have fought off the horrors of the Last War, a struggle for supremacy that tore apart what was once Galifar and cost the Five Nations thousands of lives. The last years of the war saw such momentous events such as the creation of the first warforged, among other great technological leaps at the hands of magewrights from dragonmarked houses like Orien, Lyrandar, and Cannith. Some of the world’s most prominent marvels in innovation surfaced under the spotlight of war.

But then the Day of Mourning came.

The sudden and shocking destruction of Cyre at unknown hands unleashed a swath of newfound death on an already bleeding continent. Tens of thousands of soldiers perished on all sides as the grey mists enveloped the dead country. The town of Whitehearth, which had been the center of Cannith ingenuity and invention for centuries, was lost overnight. What was once the shining heart of Khorvaire had become a living blight.

The times that followed were no less hard. The First Treaty of Thronehold officially ended the Last War in 996 YK, with the rulers of the Five Nations coming together to settle their differences. After more than a century of war, kings and soldiers alike would need to learn to live in a new and peaceful world. However, the next two years would showcase just how shortsighted the people of Khorvaire were, as faction upon power-hungry faction rose to challenge the status quo. The Aurum clashed with the Blood of Vol, the Emerald Claw sabotaged the workings of the Brelani Dark Lanterns, and the Lords of Dust sought to manipulate everything from the shadows. For some, the Last War never really ended – it had only just begun to evolve.

But in the waning days of Sypheros in 998 YK, one of the greatest fears of the modern age was realized: the Mournland began to grow. The wall of dead-gray mist that once clung to the borders of what used to be Cyre began to spread outwards and into the surrounding lands. Communities like Vathirond in Breland, Gorgon Horn in Darguun and Karrlakton in Karrnath were the first to fall to the mists. And soon after came all the horrors of the Mournland, from sickness to living death. The spirit of Cyre had returned, with a taste for vengeance of the highest order. The Mourning had begun.

Without delay, a second meeting of the leadership was called at Starilaskur in Breland, but to no avail. The political landscape had already shifted since the signing of the original Treaty, with outlying territories such as Aundair willing to let the other nations suffer if only to give themselves a better percentage. Each delegation saw only treachery wherever they looked. Many went home disappointed, each preparing to weather the coming storm in their own fashion.

What would follow was nearly a decade of continued infighting between the old powers of Galifar, even as the reach of the Mournland mists continued to grow beyond their original borders. The country of Thrane was hit particularly hard, as it was caught between the worst of the New Galifar war and the path of the Mourning. With the razing of both Flamekeep and Sigilstar and the increased subjugation from its hostile neighbors to the west, the country of Thrane effectively ceased to exist. The spirit of the Silver Flame had fought hard and long against its enemies, but even with the considerable powers of Jaela Daran, it was not enough. The Church was disbanded almost overnight, and thousands of Purified across Khorvaire were suddenly abandoned.

By the time the New Galifar War ended in 1020 YK, the damage had already been done. Thrane had officially ceased to exist as a sovereign state, the other three powers dividing up what was left. The Twelve did not last much longer, the various dragonmarked houses having already taken up sides in the war. The destruction of House Phiarlan in 1030 YK was, for many, the death knell of inter-house cooperation in Khorvaire. The loss was felt keenly across the continent, with many of the major enclaves shutting down. An undercurrent of fear and despair began to work its way through halls and taverns from Breland all the way to the Mror Holds. The Second Treaty of Thronehold was little more than a ceasefire. Everyone knew that when the fighting began again, there would be no stopping it. And all the while, the mists continued to spread out from the Mournland.

By the year 1050 YK, the Mourning had come to obliterate most of the continent. The attempts of the Mistmarch Committee were in vain: nearly everything west of Lake Galifar had been devoured. In the shadows, the lands of Khorvaire die a slow death. Rivers of broken glass erupt from the earth, and storms of dangerous magic mar the skies. And under the cover of twilight, monsters move unseen. Those who survive cling to the coastlines or flee the continent entirely, many heading to Aerenal or to Stormreach in Xen’drik. However, there are those who believe that Khorvaire is not yet lost.

First and foremost among these ‘champions’ is none other than Baron Merrix d’Cannith. Having consolidated his power base in Sharn after taking over the house from his cousins, he set about working to counteract the Mourning. With the Thronehold Accords gone, he engineered an entire workforce of new warforged who could function in the mists. With the approval of the Wynarn Protectorate, Merrix began construction over an immense fortification that spanned from Zilspar to Shadowlock Keep: the Aeon Wall. Built from millions of tons of stone and metal and thousands of contained air elementals in special turbines, it provided a bulwark against the encroach of the mists.

However, even Merrix knew that eventually, the Mourning would consume the last major human stronghold on Khorvaire, and he was already past his prime. Sending dozens of new expeditions into Xen’drik, Merrix looked for another solution. He soon shut himself away from public life. Rumors grew, that behind the closed doors of Cannith Tower, Merrix had begun to work on a new and secretive project.

Now, on the eve of his death, he has summoned to his side a group of the most unlikely people imaginable...


Timeline of Khorvaire, circa 994-1057 YK:
994 YK – Cyre is destroyed and the Mournland is created.
996 YK – The Treaty of Thronehold officially ends the Last War. The treaty officially recognizes the nations of Aundair, Breland, Thrane, Karrnath, the Talenta Plains, Zilargo, Q’barra, the Lhazaar Principalities, the Mror Holds, the Eldeen Reaches, Darguun, and Valenar. House Cannith is ordered to destroy all creation forges; the remaining warforged are granted the rights of sentient beings.
998 YK – The Mourning begins: mists from the Mournland spread out into the border regions of Thrane, the Talenta Plains, Valenar, Darguun, Zilargo, and Breland. The leaders of the Five Nations convene a second meeting at Starilaskur to discuss possible solutions, but ultimately no consensus is reached. On her way home, Queen Aurala disappears without a trace and First Warlord Adal becomes the new King of Aundair.
1000 YK – King Boranel suddenly steps down from the throne of Breland, and Lord Ruken ir’Clarn of the Breland Parliament takes control over the country from Wroat to Cragwar. Under the guidance of Sharn, the southern Brelish cities of quickly form the Wynarn Protectorate in protest of this new ‘upstart dictator’.
1001 YK – The Inspired of Sarlona launch their first assault on the shores of Argonnessen.
1002 YK – Expansionist forces under Adal’s new leadership move to occupy the Thaliost region of Thrane, and move into Rekkenmark in Karrnath. In response, both countries declare war on Aundair but Ruken’s Breland steps in to defend its new ally. Tensions heat up once more, as Khorvaire readies itself for another major conflict.
1003 YK – After a failed attempt at reconciliation, the First Treaty of Thronehold is renounced and the New Galifar War begins across northern Khorvaire. Most of the fighting takes place on Thrane’s soil, as it stands between the major fighting forces. As a result of the dissolution of the Thronehold Accords, the dragonmarked houses openly take a side in the conflict. Houses Cannith, Orien, Phiarlan, and Lyrandar declare for the western powers of Breland and Aundair, while Houses Deneith, Sivis, Thuranni, and Jorasco fight for Thrane and Karrnath.
1006 YK – Ruken attempts to send a secret army through the Mourning Mists north of Lake Brey in order to outmaneuver Thrane’s defenses, but his army disappears. With the explicit approval of both Arcanix and the University of Wynarn, all territories in Thrane south of Lessyk are considered ‘lost’ to the Mournland. Ruken commissions Merrix d’Cannith to use his creation forge in Sharn to build a new army of warforged.
1010 YK – The Harmonious Shield of Sarlona moves into the Adaran strongholds of Shalquar and Tashalatora.
1012 YK – The combined Brelish-Aundairian forces sack the cities of Athandra, Sigilstar, and Flamekeep and expand their own borders to include the majority of western Thrane. Their greatest stronghold lost and most of their power gone, Jaela Daran and her Diet of Cardinals officially disband the Church of the Silver Flame.
1014 YK – A wave of warforged fighters emerges from the Mournland, led by the Lord of Blades. They move into northern Darguun, singlehandedly wiping out the population of Skullreave before retreating back to Gorgonhorn. The goblinoid army that follows them into the mists does not return.
1015 YK – Under the growing pressures of the New Galifar War and increasing hostilities between the other dragonmarked houses, Baron Ulara d’Jorasco and her house secede from the Twelve. Gathering together various fragments of what used to be the Church of the Silver Flame, House Jorasco forms the Mithral Guard: a league of paladins and healers who devote themselves to putting an end to the New Galifar War.
1016 YK – With the Shroud of Adar weakened, the Harmonious Shield launches a full assault on Adar from footholds within the mountains and massacres over half of the country's population. Only the dragons of Korrandar halt the complete annihilation of the kalashtar.
1018 YK – Further signs of the mist spread further across the continent, and show no signs of stopping. Lurching Tower, Kennrun, and New Cyre in Breland are all devoured. Many of the Cyran refugees, distrusting Ruken’s administration, lead many of the newly disenfranchised Brelish down to join the Wynarn Protectorate. The Inspired of Sarlona launch their second assault on Argonnessen, establishing an island base off of the Claws of Kylarys.
1020 YK – King Kaius III meets King Adal on the field of battle, the vampire defeating the Aundairian ruler on the field of battle and taking him hostage. Aundair is forced to sue for peace, despite their joint victories with Breland. The New Galifar War officially ends with the Second Treaty of Thronehold. The remaining territories of Thrane are divided up between Breland, Aundair, and Karrnath.
1021 YK – The Mistmarch Committee is formed between the academic bodies of the Arcanix and the University of Wynarn to monitor and reverse the Mourning.
1024 YK – In an event later known as the 'Night of Twisted Shadows', House Thuranni obliterates House Phiarlan by striking its five artistic demesnes simultaneously. The bond of the Twelve finally collapses under the strain of its house rivalries.
1026 YK – The Inspired of Sarlona launch their third assault on Argonnessen, striking at the Valley of the Three. In response, the Conclave declares war on the Inspired and their followers. The Light of Siberys launches a full-scale assault on Sarlona, setting fire to most of mainland Rierdra, including the regions of Dor Maleer, Khalesh and Rhiavaar.
1030 YK – Having outcompeted his rivals Jorlanna and Zorlan in the New Galifar War, Merrix officially becomes the new Baron of House Cannith. His first act is to abandon Ruken and join the Wynarn Protectorate. Construction on the Aeon Wall begins.
1038 YK – The mists reach as far as Woodhelm, the Endworld Mountains, Oskilor, and the Karrnwood in Karrnath. Kaius III, faced with the utter destruction of his people, begins to move into the Mror Holds. The Ironroot War begins.
1039 YK – Construction on the Aeon Wall is completed.
1042 YK – The Ironroot War ends as High Priest Malevanor betrays and kills Kaius, and the main Karrnathi force is defeated outside Krona Peak.
1046 YK – The Mourning takes Trolanport, and many Zilargo gnomes flee to join the Wynarn Protectorate in southern Breland.
1048 YK – The Lord of Blades leads his armies to the gates of Passage, sacking the city and claiming all territory west of Lake Galifar as his own.
1053 YK – The mists reach the Aeon Wall.
1057 YK – The campaign begins…

The Player Characters:
The somewhat unique parameters of this game demand that each of the players create two characters rather than one: the first will be inhabiting the 'bad future' Eberron that I've outlined, while the second will be caught up in the whirlwinds of the Last War. Don't worry if it's confusing right now - it'll all be explained once the plot of the game gets rolling and things start to develop along their natural (scripted) course. I've also asked them to use Mythweavers, so anyone reading this log will be able to look at the cross-sections. Each character - both Past and Present - is using a 32 point buy system to generate stats.

Nick - Alistair Duskwhisper (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=860660) / Regis Strongheart (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1008177)
Nick's Present character is Alastair Duskwhisper, a gnome from Zilargo who has had several brushes with the pernicious influence of Dal Quor, the realm of dreams. His uncle Xoryn unfortunately brought the wrath of the Quori upon his family, resulting in a particularly scarred gnome with a penchant for using the same glamers against his enemies. Alistair fills a niche role in the Present party roster, as an arcane spellcaster and an effective battlefield controller. His specialty is using fear in order to dominate the battlefield and scare off entire scores of enemies at the same time. In its time of need, House Cannith has called upon this gifted prodigy for their secret project.

Nick's Past character uses entirely different mechanics. As Regis Strongheart, he puts his monastic and stealth-based training to use outmaneuvering his enemies. A mysterious halfling with no past to speak of, his is a face one might pass on the street and never look at twice. An extremely skilled infiltrator and ranged combat specialist, Regis primarily uses shurikens to incapacitate or kill anyone standing in his way. Recently, Colonel Haldren ir'Brassek has sought Regis out, as he is need of someone who can get past surveillance systems unseen.
Cameron - Oloren (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=30174) / Myrra (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=29865)
Cameron's Present character Oloren is a goliath, a creature native to the Plane of Earth. Oloren spent a great deal of his time fighting for the Church of the Silver Flame in the Last War, only to have lost his faith in that fraternity. Haunted, lost, and uncertain about his place in the world, he has become disillusioned with his role as a fighter for the faith in the face of the mists. And yet every day he prays, and every day something answers him. It gives him the will to fight on. So when he is summoned by House Cannith, Oloren gladly accepts the opportunity to help.

In the Past, Cameron is playing as Myrra, a changeling psion whose specialty is taking on a host of different forms. Her body is as mutable as it is versatile, adapting to any given situation.Myrra believes change is a natural process, but she does change unnaturally quickly. Myrra is energetic, gregarious, talkative, friendly, and likely to burn your face off when she gets bored. Nothing fazes her, and she doesn't take anything very seriously. Winning the game of life comes through new experiences.
Andrew - Havernath (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1010752) / Wayland Thurston (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1007727)
Havernath has the unfortunate honor of being one of the last living kalashtar in Eberron. As the mountain refuge of Adar was all but wiped out by Rierdra, many of the remaining kalashtar on Khorvaire banded together into new communes. Havernath is the product of this new social order, shrouded in equal parts sorrow and stoic aloofness. He is also a powerful psion, who specializes in creating new life out of ectoplasmic forms. He isn't much of a conversationalist, and yet he has been placed in charge of one of the kalashtar reserves operating out of Sharn.

Brother Wayland Thurston, on the other hand, does not possess any of Havernath's sober sanity. Thurston used to live and teach amongst the villages of the Eldeen Reaches, until Aundairan rebels began to infiltrate the homes of the Reaches. Fire and death followed swiftly behind, in the form of special forces squadrons. Thurston only barely escaped with his life, although the grief of his loved ones' passing proved too much, and he spiraled into madness. Now he has turned his divine magic towards a more incomprehensible end.
Robbie - Anastasia ir'Kade (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=30146) / Laan (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=27434)
Robbie's Present character Anastasia is a scholar first and foremost. She has spent a great deal of her life involved with the Mistmarch Committee, investigating the origins and influence of the Mourning as it has spread across the continent. As a premier cosmologist, her specialty is in breaching the borders between the planes in order to call otherworldly hosts to her side. After the collapse of the Committee, Anastasia delved deeper into her own diabolic studies, eventually becoming one of the foremost experts on conjuration.

Laan - Robbie's character in the Past - was born to a chosen family in Rierdra's holdings on Xen'drik, and was something of a failed experiment from birth. He has no psionic abilities, but he developed an aberrant dragonmark in his teens that has only grown over time. Escaping from home, he fell in with a group of pirates from Khorvaire and soon made his way to that continent as a mercenary in the Last War. He fights with no weapons, preferring to use his finely honed martial arts skills to take down any obstacles in his way.
Read on for the session notes! People who are reading are more than welcome to make comments if they so choose. Any and all feedback is appreciated. :smallsmile:

[3SecondCultist]

Introduction - Sharn, 1057 YK

The game began (as most games do) with the four players - Andrew (Havernath), Nick (Alastair), Cameron (Oloren), and Robbie (Anastasia) - sitting down around the table and getting their characters ready. The scene is set in a grim present: Sharn under the threat of storms both literal and figurative. The players started on the rain-soaked platform of Cannith Tower, at which point a series of decidedly awkward introductions were made. But before too much silence could accrue, the doors to Cannith Tower opened and they were greeted by none other than Jenasa d'Cannith, the public face of the dragonmarked house. She told them that was not to be the one to explain their mysterious summons, and that her uncle Merrix d'Cannith was waiting for them in his private chambers.

Once they had arrived, the characters were confronted with the ailing Merrix himself, who spoke of a plan to save Khorvaire from the growing dangers of the Mourning: for the past several years, he had been dedicating the majority of his house's resources towards developing a device that attuned to memory samples of the continent during the Last War. Once all of these memories had been compiled, House Cannith could send volunteers back in order to ascertain the nature of the Mourning, in order to stop it in the present day. Unfortunately, Merrix began to shake and convulse, forcing Jenasa to take over.

Leading the four characters down to the basement level of Cannith Tower, Jenasa explained that each of them would be attached to what the Cannith magewrights called 'Anchors': memory donors with the strongest connections to the events of the Mourning. She elaborated that there would be an element of chance regarding exactly which bodies they would inhabit, but the Cannith algorithms would place them all where they would need to be in order to trace the development of the Mourning from start to finish.

She also stressed that what they were about to embark on was not time travel, but instead a kind of investigation. Their mission was to go in and take note of anything that might be helpful to thwarting the Mourning in the present day, no matter the source. Anything they did while in the past wouldn't effect the present. Jenasa also explained that the machines that each of the characters would be hooked up to would do some damage to their nervous systems, and that every once in a while they would need to be pulled out in order to give their bodies time to recuperate from the strain. Once each of them had been given a chance to say a few 'last' words, they were installed into their consoles, and sent back into the Past...

So I decided (largely on a whim) that I wanted to spice this game up a bit more than I already had. So once the characters in the present were hooked in, I had each of the players roll to determine which character they would be paired with in the past, irrespective of who had created which character. This resulted in Andrew playing as Nick's ninja character Regis Strongheart, Cameron playing as Andrew's mad cleric Wayland Thurston, and Nick playing as Cameron's psion Myrra. Robbie, fortunately, was able to play as Laan, the swordsage he had actually designed. My players weren't entirely happy about this, but I've been thinking of adopting a 'shifting roster' that is randomized whenever the characters in the present revisit the past. This way, each of the players will have a chance to get a feel for the various roles of the party, while at the same time still enjoying the work they put into their own Past characters.

In any case, the next three posts will split up the first adventure in the Past, despite all of this technically starting off the first session of the game. The Dreadhold awaits!

[3SecondCultist]

Part I - Infiltrating Dreadhold (September 16)

The party started in the past on the ship of a House Lyrandar airship (called the Falconet), as it whistled towards the Dreadhold. The players were forced to adapt to the new situation, as they learned more about their situation. The characters in the past (992 YK, to be precise) had all been hand-picked by Haldren ir'Brassek, a colonel in the Aundairian military, to help him break into the Dreadhold and free a renowned academic and fellow of the Arcane Congress by the name of Ilven Sundrinker. Sundrinker had been placed in the Deep Wards - the most secure ward of the prison - on unknown charges, but he was apparently valuable enough to Aundair's war effort for them to dispatch one of their deadliest agents to retrieve him.

With Haldren were his two lieutenants: Astari Dawnsong, a kalashtar telepath originally from Adar, and his unit marksman Lyral Vek, a half-orc who was formerly a Reacher. But there was a fourth person on the airship with the players, who introduced himself rather magnanimously as Julian d'Lyrandar, the esteemed pilot. Of course, he was quite inebriated at the time, and yet he managed to guide his Falconet towards the Dreadhold with the utmost precision. Haldren told each of the characters that they were to enter the prison through a secret harbor at the water level, using the flaming airship as a distraction for House Kundarak's wyvern patrols. From there, they would need to infiltrate the prison, retrieve Ilven Sundrinker, and make their escape.

Haldren immediately began to outline how exactly their plan would work. Astari and Vek would stay on the Falconet, using it as a distraction and engaging House Kundarak's manticore patrols by air. Meanwhile, the four members of the party (along with Haldren) would jump off at the last minute, in order to rendezvous with a smuggler who had agreed to sneak them into the Dreadhold's secret harbor. From there, it would be a lot easier to get into the prison proper. In order to do this, Haldren gave each of the four operatives a life ring, which would produce a feather fall effect on them.

The party quickly aborted the Falconet, and floated down to the deck of a small barge making the crossing from Port Verge to the Dreadhold. Once they arrived, They were greeted by a halfling who introduced himself as Kyrren Jenks. He told the group that most of the goods he usually shipped to House Kundarak were luxury items that the dwarves themselves couldn't or didn't want to produce in their workshops: books from libraries in Sharn or reliefs and pieces of art from Metrol. Usually, Jenks dropped off his shipments in the Dreadhold Harbor, at which point they would be inventoried and he would be sent on his way. However, this time he would be unloading a very different sort of cargo, in exchange for a great deal of Aundairian gold. Laan, Myrra, Thurston, Regis, and Haldren were all stuffed into crates, which the halfling then promptly nailed shut. He instructed all of them to keep quiet until they were unloaded from his ship, at which point they would have a small window in which to get out of their confinement.

The first challenge that faced the party was getting out of their crates, which took several tries from Myrra, as one of the most physically weak members of the team. Thankfully, Regis wasted no time finding a secret postern corridor that by-passed most of the harbor defenses. It turned out that House Kundarak had built it as a contingency, to flank any enemies in case anyone found out about their hidden harbor and used it as an avenue of attack. The five infiltrators managed to get inside without being detected, at which point Haldren outlined the next stage of his plan to get to the Deep Wards. The group surprised a blockguard patrol on the other side of the corridor, incapacitating them and dragging their bodies back into the corridor. Stripping their uniforms, Haldren used a wand of alter self on each of the four party members so that they would appear as guards. He himself would be cuffed, and escorted to the Deep Wards as a prisoner, at which point they would be in a prime position to get Ilven out.

The plan lasted right up until the moment when the party accidentally crossed into the antimagic field blocking access to the lift down to the Deep Wards. Faced with an immediate crisis, the party was quick to throw up barriers behind them and kill the guards controlling the lift and ballistae guarding the 100-foot shaft down to the lower level of the prison. But with a small legion of House Kundarak's elite guards closing in on them, the group needed to improvise. Once they had disabled the threats ahead of them, they relied on Haldren's life rings yet again to protect them, and jumped down into the darkness.

There's quite a bit to comment on right away. This was a busy session, taking place right after the introduction. I wanted an immediate, almost cinematic change of scenery, so I decided to start off the action right away, with the Falconet racing towards the Dreadhold. Unfortunately, due to the pace I set going in, I'm afraid some of the characters I set up might have come across as one-note or forgettable. Astari and Vek are more than just Haldren's lieutenants (and I've actually written up backstories for both of them), but the players got such a brief shot of them that there's no way that complexity would have come across. I'm less worried about Julian, who I designed to be a kind of cross between Malcolm Reynolds and Star-Lord. I hammed him up, which got across the table really well. I'm obviously planning to use these NPCs again, but next time in a more meaningful context.

I'm actually really proud of the way all of my players took to taking up the reins of playing someone else's character. Credit goes especially to Cameron and Nick, who were playing builds they had never really used before. What's more, they all bypassed the defenses of Dreadhold like professionals. Which, I mean, I suppose they were in context, but still. They got all the way to the Deep Wards faster than I thought they would, giving all of us a nice sense of accomplishment.

[3SecondCultist]

Part II - The Deep Wards (September 21)

The party managed to land safely, albeit unable to see. One of the defenses of the Deep Ward was its lack of light, relying on the dwarves' natural inclinations to see in the dark in order to navigate the cell blocks. Indeed, since the alarm had been raised throughout the rest of the prison, the guard patrol at the bottom of the shaft was ready for hostile contact. Unfortunately for the players, this also meant the presence of the slaughterstone eviscerator: a specially crafted construct built for defending strongholds. With four adamantine blades, incredibly dense plating, and built-in resistance to just about any attack, the eviscerator was more than ready to deter the party with lethal force. Myrra was able to light a sunrod right before the attack, so the team had just enough time to prepare themselves.

Thankfully Haldren proved that he was an able fighter as well as a leader, retaliating by magically teleporting the eviscerator away after it had nearly cut down every member of the group. He tried to take the construct on his own, a decision that proved at least somewhat effective in slowing it down. That left the party to contend with the dwarves, which for the most part went well. Despite these being some of the best that House Kundarak had to offer, each member of the team was able to contribute to the proceedings. Regis (still controlled by Andrew) made good use of his invisibility to land sneak attacks against select guards in order to knock them down. Thurston also crippled several more of the guards, to the point where they could no longer support the weight of their armor and collapsed. Laan took on many of the defenders in melee combat, and Myrra (played by Nick) waited until an opportune moment to use metamorphosis to turn into a dragon turtle. Using its scalding steam ability, she was able to damage multiple guards at once. Once the guards had been downed, the party was able to focus its fire on the eviscerator, which eventually fell to them.

Now that they had defeated the initial patrol, the would-be rescuers found themselves momentarily stymied by the walls of force that crisscrossed the passages of the Deep Ward. House Kundarak had truly earned its name here. Thankfully, the group was able to recover a keycharm from the leader of the patrol, which allowed them to effectively bypass a great deal of the wards. The other dwarves in the facility put up a good fight, but were quickly beaten back time and again through the combined efforts of the party. This was especially aided by Haldren's arcane channeling and Myrra's new form of the lodestone ravager, which allowed her to control local sources of metal to her advantage.

Finally, the group arrived outside Sundrinker's cell. Laan was quite useful here, using his expertise to rip through metal and stone to break down the outer and inner doors. Sundrinker himself appeared as an older man, run slightly ragged from several months of captivity. Once he was free from his constraints, however, Sundrinker possessed an unnatural strength, punching through concrete on his way out of the cell. He immediately took charge of the party, claiming that there was an easier way out of the Dreadhold: through the Kundarak vault system. He explained that the western side of the stronghold was dedicated to workshops and vaults, but more importantly held a portal that could lead them to any vault in Khorvaire, ensuring that House Kundarak wouldn't be able to follow them. To that end, Sundrinker proposed pressing forward and releasing a couple more prisoners from the antimagic cell block. With their aid, he argued, escape might be an option.

The only real commentary I might have about how this session went down would be that the first combat kind of dragged. I think of the four hours we played, at least two of them were spent solely on this one fight. I wanted to keep the players on their toes and kick things off with a big threat in the form of the eviscerator, but it ended up backfiring because those things just won't die. Even with everything the party threw at it, it took upwards of 5 rounds for the thing to actually be disabled.

Normally I wouldn't have a problem with tough enemies. But unfortunately, we had a limited time frame for the session, and the combat came at the price of rushing the rest of the Deep Ward encounters, as well as the introduction of Sundrinker, the very character that the entire expedition had been about rescuing. Thankfully, I dropped a few clues as to his true nature right away (which may or may not have been aided by Thurston having persisted true seeing). Regardless, I should probably be watching my pacing moving forward.

[3SecondCultist]

Part III - The Great Escape (September 23)

Heeding the advice of the newly freed Ilven Sundrinker, the party broke into the deepest cell block in order to free two of the most dangerous inmates that Dreadhold had to offer. The guards put up some more resistance, but it was clear that with no immediate reinforcements, they could not stand up to the might of the party. The first prisoner that they sprung was a gnome surrounded in shadow, who introduced himself as Xoryn Duskwhisper. By unhappy coincidence, this was the same Xoryn that was Alastair's uncle, causing Myrra a little bit of mental strain as her passenger began to get agitated. It was obvious from the way he held himself that he was a spellcaster of some kind, conjuring up a shadowy veil around himself. The second prisoner was exactly the opposite, a dusky half-giant beauty named Navanir. Where Xoryn was characterized by shadows, Navanir seemed to glow with an inner light, and summoned a suit of psychic golden full plate around her. Both of them seemed quite grateful to have been released by the party, offering to help them escape through the vaults in exchange for their own freedom.

Making their way back through the Deep Ward was easy. Upon arriving at the bottom of the pit, however, Sundrinker stopped the party. There were noises at the top of the shaft: the dwarves had broken through the barriers that Myrra and Thurston had thrown up before entering the Deep Ward, and were even now reactivating the automatic ballista defense system. The dwarves themselves also heard the approach of the party from below, and called down for them to identify themselves. Myrra, being one of the only members of the group to actually speak dwarven, tried to trick the guards. This did not work, as they immediately prepared for intruders. Xoryn, choosing action over diplomacy, summoned a set of floating disks that would take the eight of them back up, waiting for Sundrinker to cast haste on the party and Myrra to turn into a giant beetle.

Immediately, the group was presented with a few difficulties. The entirety of the room had been covered in a thick fog, clouding the vision of the would-be escapees. What's worse, House Kundarak had deployed an abjurer squadron to shut down any magic-users in the group that would give their guards any trouble. However, Xoryn quickly used a gust of wind to disperse the fog, and with the help of both him and Navanir, the party was able to make quick work of the defenders. Myrra's beetle form proved incredibly effective at trampling the guards, Thurston was able to shut down two of the ballista by himself, and Laan took out one of the three spellcasters effectively. Haldren also did a great deal towards pre-emptively shutting down the abjurers with judicious enervations, and Xoryn came around to finish everything off with a chain lightning spell. Once the defenders were down, Sundrinker offered to lead them to the entrance to the vaults. He guessed that the entirety of the prison had been put on lock-down with the use of guards and wards, which explained the fog. Hopefully, they would be able to avoid any more Kundarak patrols between them and their destination.

Sundrinker was proven right... except that when the party broke down the doors, they were presented with a great deal of House Kundarak's remaining forces. The portal was situated at the top of a tower in the center of a chamber that descended all the way to the depths of Khyber. The doorway they had just entered through opened up into a causeway that bridged the pit to the tower. But there was no shortage of enemies between them and their destination: four squadrons of elite guards (complete with abjurers), two slaughterstone eviscerators, six ballistae, and a massive slaughterstone behemoth all guarded the portal. On top of all that, a flight of manticores patrolled the higher reaches of the cavern, and began to dive-bomb the party as soon as they entered the space. This actually nearly killed both Xoryn and Wayland Thurston, despite their deflective fields. To say that House Kundarak guarded its wealth well was an understatement.

The combat began fairly evenly, with Haldren charging the slaughterstone eviscerators in order to gather their attention. He had proven hardy enough to withstand the strain of fighting them one on one, and he couldn't risk anyone else being killed at this late juncture. Regis, who became invisible yet again, took on one of the spellcasters even as Laan made use of his dragonmark to blind an entire contingent of Kundarak archers and abjurers with a sleet storm. Myrra even took the form of a twelve-headed hydra to help Haldren fight the constructs. But it was Sundrinker who quickly gathered the enemies' attention, as he threw off his disguise and let everyone see his true form: a massive red dragon. Roaring in triumph, he immediately charbroiled an entire contingent of defenders where they stood. But the enemies proved too powerful to take on, so he abandoned the party to make for the portal himself. Soon afterward, Navanir had collapsed under a bevy of attacks and Haldren - having teleported to the portal to take on the behemoth by himself - was beaten back and fell into Khyber. Xoryn, seeing the tide turn against the group, summoned a host of fiendish wasps to follow the dragon's path.

But at the last moment, something strange happened. A vaguely humanoid silhouette composed of pure light appeared directly in front of the portal right after Sundrinker passed through. It touched the surface of the portal, and the magic changed, altering the gate's destination. Without any other options, the party passed through to places unknown.

From a DM's perspective looking back on the entirety of the Dreadhold adventure, I've got to say that as much fun as it was, it was a bookkeeping nightmare. Between writing up a 7 page outline of the Dreadhold (which included encounters for guards, dwarven wizards, animated ballistae, manticores, and slaughterstone eviscerators), NPC sheets for Haldren, Ilven, Xoryn, and Navanir, and all of the maps I ended up drawing, I must have spent at least twelve hours in prep for these three sessions. It was definitely worth it though, as the players seemed to enjoy the various points of the encounters combined with little bits of exposition and worldbuilding. Eberron is supposed to be a dark, gritty, pulpy, campaign setting inspired by cinema - and it's a tone I tried to deliver throughout.

Something else I wanted to talk about was the 'Ilven Sundrinker' twist. In every description, I dropped little hints towards him being a vampire: the supernatural strength, gaunt appearance, red eyes, and of course his name. I had originally planned for his real identity to be a major plot reveal later, but I had forgotten that Andrew had prepared a persisted true seeing on Thurston, which spoiled the surprise right away. This meant that everyone would have figured it out much earlier than I had anticipated. So I decided to make the reveal early, and maintain that 'oomph'.

In the end, I was pretty satisfied with the adventure. It certainly pushed the limits of how much time I would be prepared to devote to a game, but it was a strong start to the game. I may have gone a bit overboard for the last encounter, but I wanted to really push the envelope of what the characters could do - both together and individually - when put under massive strain. The game itself is going to open up a lot going forward, but I'm really excited to see what my players can get up to when they are free to make their own decisions.