Eberron Adventure Journal: Voyage of the Golden Dragon

Aryth 27 - Aryth 28, YK 998

Part One - Dragon's Fall:
As dusk fell on an unusually clear day in Sharn on Aryth 27, the Wandering Wolves, decked out in finer clothes than their usual adventuring gear, made their way to the docking towers of Lyrandar Tower to attend the christening gala for the Golden Dragon, the largest airship ever built.

As they started to see the crowds of people, they got their first glimpse of the impressive airship. Floating 200 feet off the ground alongside the tower, it was near 200 feet long and 60 feet across at its thickest. Enormous enough to require two elemental rings, one of them was burning with flame while the other was dormant and dark. The Wolves made their way up the gangplank, ascending to the front deck and marveling at the immense and elaborately crafted ship.

The crowd was fairly large; Lysander estimated just over 50 guests, including themselves but not including the House Medani sentries that stood watch or the crew, who were mostly mingling with the crowds themselves. Amongst the crowd, Pel and Lysander spotted Kessler the famous gnome bard, Ravvan Mollac the maitre 'd of the fine Azure Gateway restaurant, a half-dozen of Sharn's city councilors and even the lord mayor himself.

The food onboard the ship was exquisite, prepared by Golden Dragon chef Jaeden Kovane, and the wine and spirits were provided by the fine restaurant Sannid's. Waiters from Sannid's and several other restaurants, moonlighting as the Golden Dragon's service staff, walked amidst the crowds making sure everyone had their fill of fine food and drink. From belowdecks, the singing of talented female bards could be heard, and the starry sky provided a breathtaking view for the open deck, especially for those who stood at the stern of the ship and took advantage of its observation deck.

While they mingled, the Wolves were greeted by a jovial half-orc named Velgram Linntorm, who introduced himself as the ship's bosun. He gave them a quick tour of the ship, showing them the locked area that served as the bridge as well as telling them that there was an artificer's laboratory onboard. As he showed them, the Wolves watched Manten Dramgin, the dwarvish ship's artificer, arguing with a halfling until both stalked into the lab. Velgram explained that the halfling, Torren Blackfingers, was currently renting the luxury suite and was an artificer who had been granted access to the laboratory as a result, which didn't sit well with Manten.

Velgram continued the tour by taking them down to the second level so they could see the staterooms, the dining area and the House of Chance. The House of Chance was the source of the music they had heard, and they could also hear the shouts of excitement and disappointment from patrons engaging in games of Three Dragon Ante, dragonwheel and other games of fortune. As they entered the House of Chance, Lysander saw that the three women singing were elves, sisters who were former members of House Phiarlan named Tarla, Desrida and Nicolette. Lyrander had encountered the sisters some thirty years previous, and had enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Tarla. A halfling came around from behind the bar and introduced himself as Kalibar Jenks, owner of the casino. He tried to invite the Wolves to play some Three Dragon Ante, but they begged off and, minding the earlier words of Velgram, watched their purses when Kalibar was around.

After that, the Wolves split up to mingle and enjoy the party for a few hours. Pel sought out Sava Kharisa, the councilor for Lower Central Sharn, and engaged her in conversation about the corruption of the Watch, the dangers of the Boromar clan and other such matters. Sava's idealistic and fiery rhetoric struck Pel as something that might be of use later. Luggoth, meanwhile, mostly kept to himself and glared at the others, until he was approached by Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan, a gnome who worked for House Sivis in Clifftop. Josilian introduced himself as the finest barrister in Sharn and explained that his enclave specialized in helping adventurers in legal trouble and translating text and other materials from Xen'drik. He gave Luggoth his card, believing due to the Wolves' reputation that they might have need of one or both services in the future.

Tworock was amazed by all of the spectacle, as he had never seen anything like it in Xen'drik. He spent a great deal of time in the reception hall, talking to everyone he could and enjoying a great deal of Jaeden Kovane's food. Lysander made a point of speaking to the captain, an elf named Alastair d'Lyrander, who seemed nervous, but presented a brave face. His nervousness made Lysander suspicious, and he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.

Just after midnight, as the party was peaking and about to start winding down, Tworock was witness to the beginning of a hijacking. The hobgoblin work crews emerged from the steam room and began eating from the servant's meal table. One of the hobgoblins threw a thunderstone against the wall to get everyone's attention. The other hobgoblins drew weapons and grabbed the few other people remaining belowdecks, then moved with them up to the top deck. Tworock was too big for them to risk trying to take him hostage, but they threatened the hostages to get him to move above decks with them. Three minotaurs rushed out of the steam room, sealed it behind them and followed up onto the deck.

The lead hobgoblin announced himself as Brakkar and revealed his hostages, as a pair of harpies flew in and provided air cover. He announced that there was a bomb capable of destroying the ship onboard, and demanded a ransom of 200,000 gold. "For people such as yourselves, this is a minor issue! I'll need it in untraceable gold bars."

The Wolves kept an eye on what was going on, waiting for an opportunity. Pel and Luggoth both noticed Brakkar speaking into a circle of sound, seemingly agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. Lysander, who had swallowed a potion of invisibility at the first sign of trouble, slipped down the stairs to see if he could find the bomb. He found the sealed steam room, and heard someone working inside, but couldn't easily get in, and so he made his way back up onto the deck before his potion wore off.

The Medani sentries and private security encouraged everyone to remain calm, and seemed predisposed towards paying the ransom rather than getting anyone killed. The dignitaries arranged messages to be sent out to get them the money quietly, and while the situation was tense, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.

Until a half hour had passed, and a desperate looking hobgoblin ran up and started talking to Brakkar. Pel's trained senses and Luggoth's bestial hearing picked up on what was being said, which was "He don't care about no ransom. Says you'll be spendin' it in Dolurrh."

The hobgoblins released their hostages to go up to the observation deck with the rest of the crew and attending dignitaries, clearly in preparation for heading to the escape skiffs, and this was all the Wolves needed to spring into action. Tworock manifested his force screen and charged down the stairs toward the first group of hobgoblins and the minotaur with them.

Luggoth shifted, leaped down and killed one of the hobgoblins with his sword. Lysander summoned his bow from his glove of storing and began firing arrows at the hobgoblins and minotaurs, as Pel moved in front of Kava to protect her and opened fire with his crossbow.

Brakkar cast mage armor on himself and lit the noxious smokesticks wound into his beard to give himself a cloud of choking smoke, as his minotaurs and hobgoblins moved in to engage and his harpies began flying down, trying to strike the Wolves. The Medani sentries pulled out their crossbows and began firing at the harpies as well.

The hobgoblins were pretty much ineffective except as nuisances, and Luggoth would kill them casually on his way to attacking the minotaurs. The minotaurs were another story, swinging their deadly axes at the Wolves' two front-line fighters, Luggoth and Tworock. In fact, Tworock went down early in the fight, almost mortally wounded by an axe strike, although his psionic discipline allowed him to stabilize himself.

Luggoth killed one of the minotaurs attacking him and then focused on the other, which landed an axe blow of its own. Lysander continued to provide crossbow support, firing at the minotaur, Brakkar and the hobgoblins, and Pel provided back-up in the form of a Bless spell and a Command spell, which caused one of the minotaurs to temporarily retreat.

As Brakkar gave up on spellcasting and went into a rage, swinging his adamantine warhammer, a somewhat foppish looking man appeared from the stairs with a young woman in tow. "You see, dear, I told you that wasn't just you screaming!" He announced himself as Diarmand d'Deneith, challenged the hobgoblins and then sprung forward and attacked Brakkar with a rapier before moving deftly to another position.

The harpies continued to fly by and attack, exchanging attacks with the Medani sentries, Diarmand engaged in melee with Brakkar. Luggoth killed the minotaur he was facing, just in time for the other minotaur to shake off Pel's command and come charging back.

Luggoth moved in to help Diarmand with Brakkar, and the minotaur went up onto the deck after Pel, killing the sentry standing nearest him. Lysander moved over to the captain and got the key for the steam chamber, and the harpies, wounded, withdrew to the side of the ship and began screeching out their song, hypnotizing most of the crew, guest and even the remaining hobgoblins.

Diarmand was also under the spell of the harpies, and he walked off the side of the ship and began plummeting. The hobgoblins, Brakkar, Luggoth and the remaining minotaur likewise walked toward the edge. Pel killed the screeching harpy with his crossbow as he ran towards the bridge, but the other one immediately began screeching, causing two of the hobgoblins to fling themselves to their doom.

Free of the screeching, Diarmand saved himself by casting a feather fall spell and began drifting the long 200 feet down towards the ground. Luggoth, seeing an opportunity with Brakkar so near the railing, tried to bull rush him off the side, but Brakkar resisted and swung an unsuccessful attack at Luggoth in return. After Lysander sang to stop the harpy's screeching effect and Pel fired another bolt into it, the creature realized the battle was lost and flew away at top speed.

Unhappy with his lot but realizing it was time to engage, Lysander fired his bow at the remaining minotaur. Pel tried to draw off its attention by firing his wand of magic missiles, but the minotaur went for the closer target. Fortunately, Lysander was able to protect himself with mirror image long enough for Brakkar to fall out of his rage and succumb to the wounds Luggoth had inflicted. This freed Luggoth up to run up and engage the minotaur, as Pel moved to Tworock and healed him, waking him up. The half-giant took his revenge, charging the minotaur that had nearly killed him and running it through with his large greatsword.

Lysander, still worried that the captain was in on it somehow, asked Luggoth to stay up and keep an eye on him while the rest of the Wolves went downstairs to find the bomb. When they got downstairs and got to the steam room, they found a minotaur in the corridor guarding it. They yelled for Luggoth and took up positions, and Luggoth came down the other stairs to flank the beast.

Tworock, still wounded, drank his potion of cure serious wounds and then psionically enlarged himself, growing even larger than the minotaur as a result. However, after Luggoth charged in, the minotaur turned and attacked him, burying his horns in Luggoth's side. Luggoth responded by stabbing the minotaur with his greatsword, and Tworock charged in and attacked with his greatsword as well. The beast was reeling, and Luggoth finished it off with another deadly sword stroke.

Lysander used the key he had gotten from the captain and opened the door to the steam room. Though the pipes and mesh blocked a clear view, he could see that there were several hobgoblins in there, and he cast a sleep spell to deal with most of them. Pel moved in and saw a scarred, whip-thin human along with two more hobgoblins, standing near a mithril disk that he identified as the bomb.

The human drank a potion and turned into a mist, fleeing along the pipes, and the Wolves had no trouble killing the remaining hobgobllins. However, they were still faced with the bomb, a mithril disk with multicolored gemstones counting down in a spiral pattern. Pel, using his trapmaking and disarming skills, managed to slow the countdown to give them a little over a minute, and Tworock, based on his knowledge of arcana and psionic effects, realized that if they moved the bomb, it would detonate sooner, perhaps as soon as six second later. Lysander reasoned that if they moved the bomb to the elemental water chamber in the room, the bomb would be absorbed rather than destroying the elemental ring and causing the ship to plummet.

Nervous about their chances but not seeing any other choice, Pel moved the bomb over to the chamber. There was a flash of white light, and then superheated steam began pouring out of the pipes, which creaked and groaned ominously. The Wolves rushed out of the chamber to avoid being further burned and held their breath, but the ship didn't tumble out of the sky.

Back atop the ship, Captain Alastair thanked the Wolves for saving the ship. When prodded by Lysander, he admitted that his nervousness had been due to previous accidents in his career. The Golden Dragon, he explained, was his last chance at a big commission, and the Wolves had just saved it. "The Wandering Wolves will always be welcome on the Golden Dragon, as long as I'm captain."

The first mate, an elven woman named Mazzia, ran up to the captain and told him that one of the skiffs had disembarked. Pel wasn't surprised, saying "It was probably the human we chased out of the steam chamber." Captain Alastair grinned and explained that the human was in for a surprise... they could recall the lifeboats using a control on the bridge. The Wolves went down to the lifeboat bay to prepare for the return of the would-be saboteur, resolving to take him alive if they could so they could interrogate him. While they waited, Tworock prepared by engaging most of his psionic powers.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one preparing for the combat. The human was not alone in the skiff, he was accompanied by Kray, a warforged with a wicked battleclaw for one hand. And the human was an artificer, so he provided a few enhancements for the warforged before they landed. When they arrived back in the Golden Dragon's belly, the battle was joined.

Lysander tried to charm the human, who resisted, and Tworock and Luggoth both moved in to battle Kray, who snapped his battleclaw and slashed at Tworock, trying to grab him in the process but failing to hold on.

Lysander and Pel both tried using spells on the human, trying to wrap him in animated rope or stop him with hold person, but he resisted, and both noted that he was moving at supernatural speed as a result of a haste spell. He also infused his crossbow with flaming bolts, revealing his artificer abilities wihtout a doubt. Tworock landed a blow against Kray, but Kray responded with another wicked slash of his battleclaw, and this time he was successful in grabbing the half-giant and lifting him about a foot off the floor, revealing the level of enhanced strength he currently had.

Luggoth flew into a barbarian rage as Lysander drew his longsword and began a battle song. Pel jumped onto the skiff behind the human and slashed him with his scimitar, scoring a flesh wound on the villain's arm. Tworock continued to struggle, keeping Kray from crushing him but failing to break the grip until Luggoth scored a hit on the warforged, distracting him long enough for Tworock to break free.

Dropping his crossbow, the human drew his rapier and stabbed at Pel, who dodged and said "I suggest you surrender." The human sneered and growled "I'll die first." Pel responded with "Very well" and stabbed with his rapier, but the human parried him, and the two were joined in battle.

Pel needled the human verbally, wanting to know who he was "before he died," but the human would not give up his identity. "You'll die not knowing" he snarled.

Seeing his human master in trouble, Kray rushed over and snapped twice with the battleclaw, cutting across Pel's chest and face. Luggoth followed the warforged and continued attacking, as did Tworock, who was landing several punishing blows on the warforged. As Pel moved into position with Lysander to flank the human, Kray tried to withdraw to drink a potion, but Tworock slashed again with his greatsword and the warforged fell, his potion of repair spilling out onto the floor.

Luggoth, well and truly angry by now, tried to bite the human, who dodged thanks to his supernatural speed, but it was clear that his speed was wearing off. Lysander moved in, and now the human was surrounded by the Wandering Wolves, and suffered several wounds. Then he abandoned his defensive posture and rushed through their line, causing all of the Wolves to strike with full force. They killed him easily, but as their battle lust faded, they realized that the human had tricked them into killing him rather than capturing him.

On his person, they found some silver spheres, and when they cast detect magic to examine everything that their opponents had, they determined that they had an arcane mark on them. Unfortunately, even with the wealth of knowledge among them, they weren't sure what the marks meant.

As they recovered from their injuries and the battle, they were approached by Manten Dramgrin, chief artificer of the Golden Dragon. He expressed his thanks for their actions, commended them for their bravery and said that his professional opinion is that their actions in the steam room without a doubt saved the ship from doom. He then told them that he feared that due to the sophistication of the attack, it had to have been an inside job. His suspicion was that Torren Blackfingers, the halfling artificer, was the one involved, but he didn't have any proof. He asked if the Wolves would be willing to accompany the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage to Xen'drik and help ferret out the traitor. He wouldn't tell anyone else why they were there, save the captain, because he wasn't sure who he could trust.

Manten could only promise 1,000 gold, the extent of his savings, as payment, but when he went and talked to the captain, Alastair said that Lyrandar could do better than that. In addition to giving them free staterooms for the journey, he said that he would pay them 1,000 gold each. Not ones to turn down money or adventure, the Wolves agreed.

XP: 2975 (EL 7)/4163 (EL 5)

Eberron Character: Tworock

Name: Tworock
Race: Half-Giant
Class: Psychic Warrior/Warmind
Level: 6/1
Experience: 25,188
Alignment: Neutral Good
Religion: The Dragon Above
Homeland: Xen'drik
Age: 33 Height: 7'10" Weight: 382 lbs.

Statistics: STR 20, DEX 13, CON 22, INT 15, WIS 18, CHA 14, BAB +5, Fort +7 (+13), Ref +4 (+5), Will +2 (+6), Init +1 (+1), AC 16/20 w/Force Screen (+5 armor, +1 Dex), HP 82

Skills: Autohypnosis +8 (+14), Concentration +10 (+14), Craft: Armorsmithing +1 (+3), Craft: Weaponsmithing +1 (+3), Knowledge: History +2 (+4), Knowledge: Psionics +10 (+14), Psicraft +3 (+7), Ride +1 (+2), Swim +1 (+2)

Psionic Power Points: 27

Psionic Powers: 1 - Biofeedback, Expansion, Force Screen, Grip of Iron, Mind Thrust; 2 - Animal Affinity, Body Adjustment, Levitate (Psionic)

Racial Abilities: +2 on saving throws vs. Fire, +2, Immune to "person" spells, Low-light Vision, Powerful Build (Treat as Large when beneficial), Naturally psionic, Stomp 1/day

Class Abilities: Bonus Feats, Chain of Personal Superiority +2

Weapons/Attacks: +11 (3d6+8, Large Greatsword +1), +10 (2d8+7 Large Heavy Flail), Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer +11 (1d8 +7), +6 (1d8+4, Composite Longbow: STR +4 w/20 arrows)

Equipment:

(1) Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Dorje of Skate (49 charges), Bag of Holding II, Amulet of Health +4, Large Greatsword +1, Chain Shirt +1, Psionic Tattoo (Expansion: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Force Screen: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Mind Thrust: 2d10/2nd), (2) Feather Fall Talisman, Composite Longbow (+4 Str), 20 arrows, Large heavy flail, Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer, Large Dagger, Flint & steel, Fishhook and line, (2) Belt pouch, (2) Days trail rations, Waterskin, (2) Sunrod, Traveler's outfit, 0 CP, 9 SP, 26 GP, 2 PP

Feats: Psionic Meditation, Rapid Metabolism, Speed of Thought, Up the Walls, Scribe Tattoo, Expanded Knowledge (Mind Thrust)

Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, all armor, all shields (except tower shields)

Languages: Common, Giant, Draconic

History: Tworock's mother, Allista d'Tharashk, was a skilled monk and esteemed bounty hunter. During the Last War, Allista pursued a dangerous fugitive deep into the heart of Xen'drik. Allista followed a false trail leading her right into the hands of a ruthless tribe of Fire Giants. As was their tradition, every male in the clan raped Allista so that none would know her child's true father. Allista died in childbirth, providing the tribe with a new Half-Giant slave. Though Tworock was raised a slave, he never failed to question his masters. In the scant hours between his backbreaking chores and brief opportunities to sleep, Tworock would learn everything he could from his fellow slaves. As the years went by, Tworock's frequent attempts to escape earned him many beatings. However, Tworock learned that if he focused his rage inward, the beatings didn't hurt quite as much as they had before. One of the other slaves, a Duergar slave known as Fireforge who was kept as a smith for the giants, took notice of this fact. Fireforge was a psychic warrior/warmind who becamae a slave to the giants in exchange for the freedom of his daughter. Fireforge began training Tworock to focus his psionic abilities. During this time, Fireforge was secretly creating a greatsword for Tworock to use to gain his freedom. Fireforge cleverly inscribed the secrets of the Talariic Texts into each fold of the metal as he forged Tworock's sword so that as Tworock's self awarness and power grew, he would be able to "see" within the blade's layers and learn the secrets of the Warmind. As his powers grew, Tworock continued inciting rebellion and attempting escape. Many believe that his name comes from the time he brained a fire giant guard with two rocks, but the truth is that he earned it because the other slaves said he had two stones between his legs where other men have only flesh.

After many years of striving for freedom, Tworock's chance came when Traega d'Orien was taken captive by the giants. Tworock nursed Traega back to health, enjoying the world traveller's stories of a faraway land across the sea. It was not long before Tworock learned that Traega had magical powers of transport that made his jail cell laughable. Traega had been impressed by Tworock's kindness, insistence on doing the right thing and above all, his thirst for freedom. Determined to free Tworock and all of the slaves from the cruel giants, Traega allied himself with Tworock and forged a plan. With the help of Fireforge and the other slaves, Traega and Tworock slew several of the giants and then led the rest of them into a series of traps Traega had laid in the jungle thanks to his teleportation abilities. Finally free after a lifetime of slavery, Tworock followed Traega to the shore nearby, laying his eyes upon the ocean for the first time in his nearly half a century of life. For three days, Tworock stood silently on a reef, ankle deep in the surf on sharp coral. He stared out at the ocean and swore to himself that one day he would travel across it to see the wide world Traega had described to him. In the meantime, however, he vowed to stay in Xen'drik with Traega, protecting from harm the man who gave him his freedom.

Personality:
Tworock is the calm at the center of a storm. In his studies, he has learned to focus all of his rage and emotion inward, ready to burst free as psionic energy. As a result, Tworock is wise and serene, unruffled by dangerous events and harrowing situations. However, when he enters into battle Tworock releases all of his pent up emotion in brief moments of pure rage that can give him bull-like strength, blast the mind of an enemy, or even cause him to break free of his body's limitations and grow larger in size. He longs to travel the world and see all of the things denied to him as a slave.

Also, Tworock has a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. He cares little about the laws of men, though he respects their usefulness when the laws are just. For Tworock, it is easy to see what is the right thing to do and though the right path is usually a difficult one, it would be a disrespect to the gift of a free life for him to follow any other road. That said, he does take special pleasure in destroying Fire Giant males whenever possibile, always wondering if the one he is slaying participated in his mother's rape and hoping that this one might be his true father.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Return to Sharn

Aryth 11 - Aryth 18, YK 998

Part One - Big News:
After Pel's return to life, he and Lysander went back to the Chapter House to gather up Kanatash and Luggoth and head back out to the Sea Dart. When they arrived, however, they were met by a new face. A half-giant, almost eight feel tall and wearing a rune-carved greatsword on his back, walked over to them and handed them a letter, with a wax seal bearing the mark of the Wandering Wolves.

Breaking the seal, Lysander saw that the letter was from Brand. It read:

Since I know you all to be a paranoid lot (not without justification, obviously, or we would not be in Xen’drik in the first place), let me begin by convincing you that this letter does in fact come from a member of the pack. First, you’ll notice that this letter is sealed with the mark of my signet ring and a twist of Whitehearth’s hair in the wax. Secondly, I remind you that a dragonmark of the House Orien can be especially useful when facing wall crawling vampires and is equally effective in the gullet of a giant shark. And third, if the above is not yet proof enough that I am indeed your friend, I will warn you to ‘ware ensorcelled gnomes. They are easily underestimated and can lead to the loss of dear companions.

I am certain that you can guess the identity of my savior. He has powerful friends capable of curing even the devastating rotting disease carried by mummies, such as the one we faced so recently together. Through these friends I know that you have achieved our goal and I applaud you. I shall be staying here in Xen’drik for a time, exploring my roots as it were. In my stead, please accept my savior’s friend Tworock into the pack. His sword is tolerably long and he is well acquainted with its use. Ask him where his name comes from (but not in mixed company).

I remain a wolf at heart and hope to see you all soon.

Good journeys,
Brand

Tworock then handed them another gift from Brand, the fully charged wand of cure light wounds that he had inadvertantly taken from them when his father had teleported them away. When Pel asked, Tworock briefly explained his history to the Wolves, how he had been a slave to a tribe of fire giants until Brand's father had saved him, and how he had joined Brand's father after that, but had always wished to see more of the lands that this new stranger told him about. Brand's arrival gave him the opportunity to do just that, and so he sought out the Wolves at Brand's behest, but also so that he could find adventure and excitement across the seas he had never crossed. The Wolves also greatly enjoyed hearing the origins of his name.

With their new large friend in tow, the Wolves walked back down the shore and boarded the Sea Dart for a five day journey back to Sharn. Tworock spent much of his time in the observation dome, marveling at the first of many wonders he would see in his journeys away from Xen'drik.

Part Two - Conclusions and Transitions:
On Aryth 16, the Wolves arrived back in Sharn. They went immediately to Lady Elaydren's home to give her the creation pattern. Elaydren was delighted to see them and the creation pattern. She expressed worry at Brand's absence, but was relieved to hear that he was alive, at the least. She gave each of them their reward of 2,500 gold in gems.

As dictated by the Wandering Wolves charter, Tworock took half of the gems for Brand's mother, and left the other half for the Wolves' party treasure. He explained that Brand had bid him to please take Whitehearth back to the Eldeen Reaches, and asked how he could get there. Luggoth, who had traveled with Brand before, offered to take him back. In the meantime, they arranged for Tworock to stay at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild Hall.

While in the vicinity of the Hall, they wandered over to the Drunken Dragon to get a drink and relax briefly. The bartender, Mira d'Ghallanda, told them that several members of the guild had expressed interest in joining the Wolves, and that their reputation was growing. She then began asking them how the tryouts went, and making other enigmatic comments, until they confronted her and asked her what she was talking about.

As it turned out, a pair of young warriors, not even Clifftop members, had come into the Dragon about a week ago and had said they had some sort of "audition" for the Wolves in Dura. Mira had found this odd, and she hadn't seen the warriors since, so she assumed they had failed the test and left town.

Kanatash chose this time of rest to announce that he was going to retire from his time with the Wolves and take up more permanent residence at the temple of il-Yannah. He expressed that traveling with the Wolves had been "interesting" and told them that he hoped their paths would cross again in the future.

After Kanatash left and Tworock had headed up to his room, a House Orien courier approached the table. The Wolves were cautious, especially when he came with another summons to see Lady Elaydren, whom they had just seen mere hours before, but they soon realized he was on the level. When they returned to Elaydren's home, she admitted that she had forgotten something, and handed them four invitations to the Aryth 27 christening party for the Golden Dragon, the world's largest airship.

Elaydren explained that she and her betrothed were going to be in Thrane attending a party in their honor at the Cannith Enclave, and she wished to offer these passes as thanks to the Wolves for all the work they had done for her. The food and drink should be excellent, she said, as Chef Jaeden Kovane, the cook for the Golden Dragon, used to be one of King Boranel's cooks and she had enjoyed his food before.

After dealing with various errands relating to their last adventure, the Wolves decided to travel to Gareth's Gear to deal with the various magical items and weapons they had accrued in their journey. Pel and Lysander decided to tell Luggoth the true nature of "Gareth" and bring him fully into partnership in owning the store. When they arrived, they found Tock and Jalis ir'Mroranon hard at work. Jalis reported that the store was still doing well, and handed "Gareth" another 50 gold for the month of Sypheros.

The treasure they had gained in Xen'drik was rich indeed, and the highest priced item was the Cloak of Minor Displacement, which carried a price-tag of 18,000 gold. Realizing that this item could earn a reputation for the shop as well as attracting burglars, the group invested in a new vault, one guarded by House Kundarak runes and built with a sturdy hidden lock.

With this money, each of the adventurers found something they wished to buy, and they also expended some of their personal money on equipment. Pel made his stop in at the Cracked Mirror to check in with Xain, and while the changeling was acting shifty, Pel couldn't determine exactly what had happened. He suspected that Xain was involved in the theft of the creation pattern, but he wasn't entirely sure. Xain passed along information that Zan, a spy inside Cord Lanner's inner circle for Pel's father Vadis, had vanished. Vadis believed that Zan had been discovered and had run away as a result.

After their conversation had ended, a frantic half-elf rushed over to their table and discreetly flashed them the sign that he was with the Tyrants before rushing back out the door. Xain and Pel left separately, adopted different guises, and met up with the half-elf outside. He revealed himself as Fortunel, a changeling in service to Vadis. He explained that he had been with Vadis when he went to a Six Stones match in the Dura Cogs to try and broker a peace with Moloch and the Daask.

Unfortunately, while they were there, The Watch broke up the event, and the cockatrices from the event got away. Moloch blamed Vadis for tipping off the Watch, and Fortunel was barely able to escape, hoping to come and find Xain or Pel. Fortunel handed Pel a hastily scrawled map back to the Six Stones arena and then left.

Pel left and went back to Luggoth and Lysander, both at the Drunken Dragon, to tell them of what had occurred. They did some thinking about who could be behind it, considering not just Cord Lanner but also the Boromar Crime Family, who also had conflicts with the Daask as well as influence with The Watch enough to get them to break up a Six Stones event. Lysander agreed to use his contacts to try and get more information, including looking for who had tipped off the Watch.

Meanwhile, Luggoth and Pel needed to hire a wizard who could help them with Stone to Flesh scrolls in case they ran afoul of the cockatrices while they were attempting to deal with them. They purchased the scrolls from The Dragon's Hoard, and then returned to the Drunken Dragon to hire someone to cast them. They found Elias Volan, a young wizard who agreed to come along, in a noncombat capacity, in exchange for pre-payment of his 275 gold tuition for the semester to Morgrave University.

Part Three - To Catch A Cockatrice:
While Luggoth accompanied Lysander on an information-gathering journey into the city for about four hours, seeking out everything they could find out about the Six Stones, a missing cocktrice or two and who might have tipped off The Watch, Pel and Elias went down to meet with Moloch.

After getting past the gnoll security, Pel went to meet with Moloch, a surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken ogre. Moloch laid out what he (and Renchar, the ogre organizer of the Six Stones event) wanted: A return of the two highly-trained cockatrices, alive, with a minimum of information getting out about their escape or about the Six Stones events. If this were to happen, Vadis would be released unharmed. If it weren't, he would be killed.

Pel attempted to sweeten the deal, offering to find out who tipped off the Watch, and Moloch agreed that if Pel could pull this off, he might be open to future negotiations at some point. He even offered up four potions of Bear's Endurance to help ward off the effects of the cockatrice if one of the Wolves was bitten.

Luggoth and Lysander arrived, and Luggoth was able to find, even after hours of rain, a set of tracks leading one of the cockatrices deeper into the Cogs. After following them for a short while, they found a tenement building in the Khyber's Gate district. Pel investigated and found goblins within, turned to stone, and realized he was in the right place. He turned a corner towards an open door and was met by an angry cockatrice, which had clearly heard him come in.

Luggoth downed his potion and discovered that it had been laced with the addictive drug Dreamlily, but was unable to warn Pel before he drank his. Pel warned the others, in a somewhat stoned manner, that the potions were poisoned, and was bitten by the cockatrice, but he managed to shake off the paralytic effects of its beak.

Lysander's sleep spell had no effect on the beast, but Luggoth managed to slam down one of the crates that the Wolves had purchased on top of it, and they had captured the beast. After checking the rest of the house, they found that the other cockatrice wasn't there.

On their way back to Renchar's arena to pick up another trace, they were stopped by a goblin who claimed to have seen the other cockatrice. They followed the goblin down into the sewers, and soon found themselves in a familiar setting: The sewers beneath Dorasharn Tower, and the valve cluster where they had been ambushed by shifters on their first adventure together.

Another ambush awaited, as well as another reminder from their first adventure. As they walked in, the valves shut, closing Elias outside and the rest of the Wolves in. The voice of William d'Deneith emerged from a cloud of mist, and he formed, revealing himself to be a vampire in service to The Emerald Claw. Two other misty forms revealed themselves as well, vampire spawn who had clearly been the "recruits" mentioned by Mira earlier.

After William accused the Wolves of leaving his body to be desecrated by the Claw and it was clear that there would be no talking, Lysander pulled out his bow and fired, but missed the supernaturally-enhanced William. Luggoth shifted and charged into combat with William, as Pel opened fire with his newest wand of magic missiles and three missiles streaked out and struck the vampire.

William and his spawn tried to dominate some of the Wolves, but they failed, and the combat continued. Pel continued to pepper William with magic missiles as Luggoth engaged him in melee, and the vampire spawn continued trying to dominate the others.

With their domination abilities failing, William and the spawn turned to physical attacks. He drained life energy from Luggoth as the spawn tried to grab at Pel and prevent him from firing any more missiles. Luggoth changed targets and quickly reduced one of the vampire spawn to gaseous form. As he flew off, William and the other spawn also took gaseous form and fled. As they did so, however, the valves opened. The angry clucking of a cockatrice heralded the arrival of the other bird, and William called back "I'll see you again another time."

After defeating two vampires, it was little trouble for the Wolves to cage one more Cockatrice. After Pel put a crossbow bolt into the treacherous goblin that had lured them into the sewers, the Wolves emerged from the sewers with both cockatrices successfully captured.

The Wolves returned their captives to Moloch, and true to his word, the ogre released Vadis. After a brief, somewhat unemotional reunion between Vadis and his son, the Tyrant leader and the Wolves went their separate ways. Both Luggoth and Pel had to spend two days getting rid of their potential addiction to Dreamlily, but they succeeded without needing another dose of the drug.

XP: 1300 XP (EL 6)/1000 XP (EL 7)

Handy Haversacks, Kundarak & Bags of Holding

As discussed in the last session, the Wolves have converted most of their liquid cash (or at least their gold) into a House Kundarak bank account. If you opened it with the cash you had left, the 1% fee to open the account came to 198 gp, and you've now got a balance of 19,600 gp. We can figure the exact amount later after you buy whatever else you want to buy in Sharn. You can choose to have letters of credit (authorized with arcane marks) from Kundarak in any amount, and carry that with you, where you can trade it for cash at any Kundarak enclave (most cities have them) or use it to purchase from most civilized shops. I'd suggest that each member of the Wolves gets a letter worth 4,000 gp, which at your current membership of four (if you give Tworock a letter) leaves 3,600 gp in the Sharn bank for later.

Also and more importantly... I finally checked on the weight capabilities of the Haversack. It holds 20 lbs. in each side pocket (there are 2), and 80 lbs. in the main pocket. Or 120 lbs. total. You currently have 166 lbs. worth of gear in there, minus the masquerade costumes and Emerald Claw disguises, which aren't going to fit. My suggestion would be to look into a bag of holding. The smallest one holds 250 lbs, and the disadvantage is that it takes a full-round action to get anything out of it, unlike the Haversack. It would cost you 2500 gp. Or you can go 500 lbs. (5000 gp), 1000 lbs. (7400 gp) or 1500 lbs. (10000 gp).

No, you cannot put the bag of holding *into* the Haversack. Unless you and everyone within 10 feet would like an instant trip to the Astral Plane, with the destruction of both bags as a side effect.

I would also remind you that you are lacking a restock on healing potions (or scrolls), restoration scrolls, etc.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (3)

Aryth 3 - Aryth 10, YK 998

Part Six - Xulo:
Shaken from the sudden loss of their companion, the remaining Wolves reasoned that Brand's father must have been the one who rescued him, and clearly, he wasn't coming back any time soon. Realizing that they didn't have much time, and goaded gently by Muroni's insistence on the Prophecy, they decided to move on, despite being battered, tired and down a man.

All except one. Whitehearth refused to leave the site of his master's disappearance, and managed to convey to Luggoth that he wanted to stay there. Luggoth carried Whitehearth up to the level that held the globe of invulnerability and reluctantly, the Wolves left Whitehearth behind, secure behind the powerful spell.

Following the theory that they should be heading up, the Wolves passed through dusty rooms that had obviously once been quarters for drow slaves and the chamber of the slaves' overseer, full of chains and manacles and stained with blood. They emerged into a hallway and saw that there were exits to the ledges outside. Pel peered outside and saw that they were about 150 feet up, roughly halfway to the top. Had he remained a minute longer, he would have seen some of the dire apes walking along the ledges, guarding the temple that they had made their home.

As it happened, the Wolves did encounter the dire apes when the next door they opened turned out to be the apes' lair, holding their leader, a Girallon. The Girallon immediately bellowed with rage and attacked, smashing Pel with one of its fists. Kanatash opened fire with rays of cold from his dorje as Pel moved out into the hallway to draw the Girallon out. When it emerged, Luggoth and Pel both moved in to engage while Kanatash and Lysander fired dorje rays and arrows at it.

After the Girallon grabbed Luggoth with all four arms and nearly tore him in two, Lysander dropped his bow and moved into combat with his sword, but Pel cut the Girallon down with his scimitar before Lysander could really engage. Muroni began using her wand to cure Luggoth even as he downed a potion.

However, the fight was not as finished as the Wolves thought. Lysander, walking over to pick up his bow, saw two dire apes charging down the hallway, having come in from outside when they heard the cries of their leader. He began firing arrows at the charging dire apes, and Luggoth joined him to throw an axe and kill one of the apes. The other leaped at Luggoth, claws swinging, but Luggoth ducked the blow and came up with greatsword in hand, stabbing through the beast's shoulder. The ape swung a vicious claw into Lysander, but it was the last attack it would make, as Lysander struck back with his sword and Kanatash finished the beast off with two more rays of cold.

As the last bars of Lysander's song faded, the noise was replaced with the howls of two more dire apes! Lysander and Kanatash once again opened fire with their ranged weapons, Pel joining in with his crossbow, and Luggoth killed another with his throwing axe. He then climbed on top of the dead dire ape and attacked the other one, which already bore the scars of a cold ray, an arrow and a crossbow bolt. Enraged, the ape managed to sink its claws into Luggoth's right shoulder and left thigh and shake him, nearly tearing him apart, but Kanatash blasted the creature to death with another ray of cold before it could finish Luggoth off.

Moving down the hallway, healing Luggoth as best they could with the few remaining spells and charges of cure light wands, the Wolves found an empty room, closed the door and took a few moments to rest.

Realizing that they didn't have time to fully rest, the Wolves emerged and checked a few doors until they found a staircase leading up. They went up and found a room filled with crates of recent supplies, and quickly realized that the Emerald Claw must have already gone this way. Their suspicions were confirmed when they opened the door and found themselves facing four Emerald Claw soldiers standing guard outside the supply room. Despite their depleted magic and wounds, the Wolves managed to make quick work of the Emerald Claw, with only Luggoth suffering one minor hit from a flail in return.

The next obvious door contained a powerful glyph of warding, which Pel discovered and decided not to disturb. The Wolves then found a staircase in a room full of webbing, and they set torches to the webs, burning out the spiders who had been living there. A quick jaunt up the stairs discovered drow-sized attics, long abandoned and undisturbed, so the Wolves reasoned that the Claw had not been up there yet.

Moving down the hall to another door, several of the Wolves heard voices talking from the corridor in front of them. Pel and Lysander silently led the way, as Luggoth, Kanatash and Muroni followed from a distance. Eventually, they came out into a large room which was not the source of the voices, but which did contain something vitally important.

The room had walls extending up over a hundred feet high, with gauzy webs at the height of about sixty feet shielding it from the sunlight above. At the center of the room was a mammoth throne of stone and metal sitting on an inscribed disk of unblemished iron. Around the periphery of this disk were wooden crates, a few barrels and a wooden table strewn with a clutter of paper, pens, measuring devices and other items. A rotund female in work clothes worked around the inscribed disk, and didn't seem to notice Lysander and Pel as they came in.

The two moved out into the chamber, and the female worker turned around. "Oh, thank the Sovereign Host!" she said. "The Emerald Claw has been forcing me to decipher these runes!" Her ruse quickly faded, however, as she moved back around the throne and then yelled, in a masculine and familiar voice, "Guards! They're here! Take them!" before drinking a potion and vanishing.

From another nearby entryway, the Wolves saw the warforged Scimitar and eight Emerald Claw soldiers charge in, and the battle was joined. Lysander began an inspiring song as Scimitar engaged Pel in combat and Muroni, Luggoth and Kanatash ran toward the room to join in.

Lysander began firing his bow, killing one of the soldiers, as Luggoth joined the battle between Scimitar and Pel. Muroni rushed to engage the Emerald Claw soldiers, supported by Lysander's bow from a short distance away. Kanatash used the last of his psychic reserve to unleash a fiery energy missile on Scimitar and four of the Emerald Claw soldiers, killing all but one of them and severely wounding Scimitar as well.

While Lysander picked off two more of the Emerald Claw soldiers, Luggoth and Pel slashed away at Scimitar, rendering him inert. From there, it was easy for the Wolves to dispatch the remaining Emerald Claw soldiers.

As the battle wound down, Pel looked and noticed that a pattern of lights had emerged on the throne, one that had definitely not been there before the fight. The Wolves pondered what this might mean, trying to find clues in the notes on the worktable and recognizing the names "Scorpion's Eye" and "Garyx's Eye" as the names the giants had for stars. Then Muroni stepped up to the throne, trying to get a closer look, and vanished.

The Wolves realized that she had been either teleported or destroyed, and after some small discussion, Lysander led the way by jumping onto the throne. They were then transported to a chamber deep below the earth. They found themselves standing atop a giant-sized set of steps, fifty feet high and descending into a great vault filled with hulking, dimly glowing pillars of stone. They could see cords extending from each pillar, some made of metal, some of more organic material, all leading to great draperies covering something massive at the other side of the chamber.

At the foot of the stairs, they saw the figure of the rotund woman writhing and twisting in pain. As they watched, she twisted and took on other forms: Rarwog, the half-elf captain of the Jade Fury. Then, the pale and scarred form of Garrow, the vampire they had faced in the Mournland. "Fine!" he screamed. "Take it and be gone from my mind!" And with that, he flung the creation pattern in his hand deep into the chamber.

The Wolves wasted no time engaging their enemy, as Lysander fired his bow and Kanatash unleashed a fiery energy missile. Pel cast Protection from Evil on Luggoth, who began leaping down the massive, 10 foot stairs. Garrow, realizing he was no longer alone, called out to the Blood of Vol and healed himself as Kanatash, Pel and Lysander continued firing at him.

Garrow called out to the Blood of Vol once more and became infused with divine power, withstanding another blast of fire from Kanatash and an arrow fired from Lysander as Luggoth quaffed a potion of bull's strength and continued moving in.

Garrow drank a potion to heal himself further and moved toward the nearest stair, cutting off line of sight from the Wolves. Lysander, believing the vampire to be an immense danger, produced a scroll of haste and cast it on the party, which gave Luggoth the burst of speed he needed to jump down and begin attacking Garrow in earnest, slashing a wickedly powerful rent in his flesh with his greatsword.

Garrow responded by reaching out and touching Luggoth with the power of the Blood of Vol, draining some of his life but not killing him. Luggoth responded with another powerful sword blow and killed Garrow. Even as the Wolves were reaching for their stakes, they realized that Garrow was not what he had seemed. He didn't become gaseous upon death, but instead took on a pale white sexless form. Garrow had never been a vampire... he had been a changeling.

Lysander walked back into the draperies and cords and found both the creation pattern and the fourth schema, the only part not currently plugged in. Before he could do anything, he felt a strong compulsion to complete the pattern, which he resisted.

Now wary of the pattern, the Wolves began to look around. They saw that what was hidden beneath the draperies, and connected to the cords, was an enormous, primitive warforged, about thirty feet high.

The Wolves argued back and forth about what to do with the creation pattern. Natural curiosity and a potentially great story was compelling Lysander, but the compulsion he had felt made him nervous about putting the pattern together. Luggoth was indifferent, but leaned towards leaving it incomplete. Pel felt that the Traveler's will would have been to put it together, but he was also nervous about its potential for evil. Muroni stayed out of the argument, but her presence reminded the Wolves that this event was clearly meant to be, in some way, a playing out of the Prophecy. If they didn't complete the pattern, maybe they were failing to continue along the path destiny had provided for them, and they could prevent some good thing from happening to the world.

Finally, Lysander offered up "Can it be any worse than falling out of the sky on an airship?" Pel agreed, and he put together the fourth schema and the creation pattern.

The pattern rose into the sky of its own accord, levitating up to the massive warforged and melding into its chest. A terrible voice filled the minds of all present, speaking at once no language and every language. "I... am... complete! Xulo... is... whole! And now, Xulo has a body!"

With that, the warforged began moving, and its intentions were clearly hostile. Pel, Luggoth and Lysander began hacking away at the cords, hoping to shut down the power to the warforged, which was unleashing not only physical might but some sort of psychic attacks of despair and confusion. Luggoth fell prey to one of these, trying to escape but being prevented by Xulo's elimination of the teleportation effect that had brought them here.

Xulo smashed Kanatash into the ground, and Kanatash decided to feign death to avoid future attacks. The other Wolves quickly realized that there were too many cords to effectively sever before they were all killed, and then Kanatash hit upon the idea of firing his dorje at the creation pattern itself, which seemed to work.

Xulo brought both of the warforged's mighty fists down on Pel, breaking the changeling's body and leaving him dead on the floor of the chamber. Desperately, Kanatash and Lysander fired at the creation pattern, and finally Kanatash managed to shut it down. The creation pattern clattered to the floor, undamaged but temporarily intert, and Lysander quickly separated the parts out to the different Wolves, dropping the creation pattern itself into the Heward's Handy Haversack.

Lysander picked up Pel's body, and he walked with Kanatash, Luggoth and Muroni up to the throne, which was working once more. They quickly and quietly backtracked, stopping to pick up Whitehearth, who after several hours had decided that his master was not returning here. They emerged from the giant temple and found Chinxero waiting for them.

The travel by riverboat took five more days, depositing them in Stormreach on Aryth 8. Lysander knew that he had only a few more days to find someone to bring Pel back to life before his soul would be gone beyond the reach of most priests, and so he called upon Muroni to use her local contacts to help him. Together, they found two things: One was that there was a Cleric of the Sovereign Host who could help, but he was out in the jungles of Xen'drik for at least three more days. The other was that there was another priest who could help, but he was definitely of a... darker religion.

The priest didn't identify himself by name as he met with Lysander in one of Stormreach's alleys. He said only that he worshipped the same pantheon as the Traveler. Lysander, desperate to get his friend revived but worried about consequences, managed to convince the priest to reveal that he was a worshipper of the Keeper, the god of death. He agreed to revive Pel in exchange for a favor owed by the Wandering Wolves at some point in the future. "If you refuse this favor, my god will take back the gift he is about to imbue your friend with. And punish the rest of you as well."

Reluctantly, Lysander made the deal on the behalf of the Wolves. After two days of preparation, they gathered in a private ceremony and watched as the priest called upon The Dark Six to raise Pel from the dead. The priest smiled as he left the makeshift temple he had created. "Feel free to stay here for a while, it's quite safe. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."

XP: 4575 (EL 6)/3763 (EL 7)

Upcoming Schedule - September/October

Matt is planning on running Call of Cthulhu, but probably more late October, so I've got some more Eberron scheduled before then. Here's the schedule as I see it, please chime in if you aren't available for a given week.

September 15th - Poker Game
September 22nd - Eberron: Sharn City Life (buying/selling, city adventure, building backup characters)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 1

October 6th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 2
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - Gaming off (Halloween parties, etc.)