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View Full Version : DM Help Storm King's Thunder + Red Hand Of Doom, Eberron Edition



Fable Wright
2019-07-10, 12:50 AM
In the wake of the Mourning, even the landscape has changed.

On the east end of the Mournlands, where Cyre once met Karrnath, the land has begun to deform. Mountains grow twisted and unnatural from the land, even as the dead-grey mists recede back from the Cyre river. The Mask Weavers claim it's a sign that the land is healing, though none dare venture near—for it lies just by the lair of the Mask-Breaker. In life, he stole the strength of enemies one by one—in death, he has stolen their souls, shackling them to his whims.

The Karrnathi dismiss these legends, and bands of scholars and adventurers have flocked to the region to study the new terrain and claim the treasures the receding mists have uncovered. You are one such band heading to Vraath Keep, a Cyran border fort rumored to have just been released from the Mists.

You are due to arrive in the city of Nightstone by nightfall, a town so named for the curious Xen'drikian relic that has been discovered in the town after the mists receded from it. Little do you know what's happened... or what is to come.

Aeren was not the only one to foretell the doom of the giants. Some powerful seers of the mighty Sul'at empire had received visions of the future, bathed in dragonfire and curses. In the end, they banded together to cast a mighty ritual, one to steal their domain from the very land and hold it in waiting, until the time came when civilization once again reached the peaks of power that the Giants had claimed. They would emerge from the resulting cataclysm, and bring order to the new world. Though it cost the seers their lives, the future of Giantkind would be assured...

...until the treacherous workings of Sora Katra and muddled the waters. When the giants returned, they were leaderless—King Hekaton alone was pulled from the lands of the giants and cursed in stasis, where the Daughters auctioned him off to the highest bidder through the Golden Goose, an infamous Lhazaar longship that was half black market, half gambling hall. To the surprise of many, it was House Lyrandar who won the bid—specifically a member of the Storm Front cult in their house, at the behest of his Kraken master. (Who in turn wanted the giant as revenge for a 40,000 year old slight.)

When the PCs arrive, they find the city of Nightstone slaughtered to a man by what appear to be marauding Giants, wearing Xen'drikian artifacts, in the middle of Khorvaire, as they defend the city of Golden Fields. As they continue to explore the area, they spot an even greater threat—a vast horde of Valenar elves, thousands strong, riding fast at Karrnathi soil, too quick for the Karrnathi army to respond. If their raid goes through, whatever their objective, it could mean the reignition of the Last War.

The Valenar landed on Khorvaire for this very moment—their seers predicted that their ancient enemy, the Giants of Xen'drik in their full might, would land on Khorvaire. There is not a single Tair'nadal elf alive who would not leap at the chance to emulate their great ancestor in the defeat of their most ancient and despised enemy.

The elves are not alone—some young dragons, not yet grown into their castes in Argonnessen, heard tell of the return of the giants, and wanted in on the fight. While there's no love lost between the dragons and the elves, a few elvish patron ancestors earned their legends working with the dragons in annihilating House Vol—and no Tairnadal commander would be willing to deprive a soldier of such a rare chance of emulating their ancestor's legend. Only five elves have such an ancestor—five Wyrmlords, the only ones allowed to communicate at all with the dragons in the host.

After discovering the annihilation of Nightstone, and the Elvish force at Vraath Keep, possibly even enlisting the aid of the severely injured and exhausted Harshnag against the Valenar horde, they must make a choice—either they explore Rhest, and find Wyrmlord Saarvith who has pressed a Cannith operator into firing up a Creation Forge of Warforged Juggernauts, or deal with the increasingly looming threat of Chief Guh as her giants begin to move. With either decision, the Giants' advance force meets the elves in combat, slowing down the cavalry substantially... but war is actively breaking out behind the players, and they must evacuate the civilians if they can.

And then the Mask-Breaker appears, furious that his phylactery has been stolen, but no one knows whether by Giants or by Elves. (In reality, it was the goblin Hark, back from SKT chapter 1.) The Mask-Breaker has enslaved both Chief Guh's pet Mournland abomination, Varanthian, and Wyrmlord Uluwai and her troops. With the leverage of the Mask-Breaker's Phylactery, the PCs could convince them to deal a devastating blow to Giant and Elf both... or to pick a side, or perhaps even to rescue villagers.

It all comes to a head at the Battle of Brindol, where the PCs must fight off up to three forces at once—Xen'drikian Giants; the combined Dragon/Elf strike force; and the Mask-Breaker, if negotiations broke down. If the PCs manage to hold the town, all the invading forces are staggered, and forced to regroup for long enough that the legions at Fort Bones can arrive on the scene, providing a relief force. King Kaius the Third has summoned the PCs for an audience—he understands the Valenar, but does not understand the wave of Giants. Can the PCs find answers in the courts of one of the Giant Lords? Will they try to decapitate the heads of the reborn Su'lat and ensure no Giant nation splits Khorvaire in two, or try to free the King in pursuit of peace? And what will come of the machinations of Iymrith, who has been trapped since the Age of Giants and has her own inscrutable agenda...

So, uh, Playground. Is this too much going on for one campaign? Does this make logical sense in any shape or form? Anything that sticks out at you that needs refining, or advice on Iymrith's motives? Better ways to use her, or the non-Guh chieftains earlier in the campaign? Good ways to expand the Valenar Horde storyline without relying on fiend-summoning or elves unleashing a Dragon Overlord? This is both a rough sketch and a bad idea, so I'm really hoping that someone can take this and figure out how to roll with it.

Sir_Chivalry
2019-07-11, 04:11 PM
Personally I don't know the adventure paths but I do love some Eberron and involving basically every faction of East Khorvaire (except the scaleys and the dwarves but that's cool), that makes me happy.

I'll watch this thread with interest