Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw

Sypheros 19 - Sypheros 26, YK 998

Part One - Lady in Distress:
Thanks to a suggestion from Lysander, the Wandering Wolves had moved their regular tavern from the Broken Anvil over to the The Drunken Dragon, which also happened to be the regular bar for the Clifftop Adventurers' Guild. Kanatash and Luggoth also joined the charter of the Wandering Wolves with the guild, and later, at the Drunken Dragon, Kanatash suggested formalizing the structure of the Wolves even further.

So it was that on Sypheros 19, the Wandering Wolves had an official charter composed by Kanatash and signed by all of the members, including Tock but obviously excluding William. Luggoth and Kanatash were made aware of the group's benefits in regards to Gareth's Gear, but not the true nature of its ownership. The treasure split was agreed to be an equal share for all members, and if someone is killed, their share of the treasure goes to their beneficiaries named in the charter. Someone killed without a beneficiary donates their share to the Wolves. Kanatash named his beneficiary as Havakhad, spiritual leader of the Shrine of il-Yannah in Upper Dura's Overlook district. Luggoth named the community of the Wolf's Paw in the Eldeen Reaches. Pel wanted 50% of his share to go to the Church of the Traveler, and Brand 50% to his mother Sheryn, with the other 50% going to the Wolves. Brand also stipulated that if he died, Whitehearth was to be taken to join Rorsa's pack in the Eldeen Reaches. Lysander named no beneficiary as of yet, other than the Wolves.

On the 22nd day of Sypheros, shortly after the rain had begun falling in Sharn again, Pel looked into the Heward's Handy Haversack for the copy of the schema and the creation pattern that the Wolves had recovered, only to find them missing. The only times he could remember being away from the Haversack, excepting when he was sleeping with it in the same room, was when he was meeting with Xain and had to leave it with him for a few minutes and when he was briefly knocked unconscious by the Daask half-ogres.

Pel gathered with the Wolves at the Drunken Dragon to discuss what should be done. As they quickly worked out that this was likely a deliberate theft, and thus not likely to be the fault of the Daask, but more the fault of the previously trusted Xain, a House Vadalis gargoyle entered the establishment looking for them.

"The Lady has need of you," the gargoyle offered, depositing a sealed envelope onto the table and departing. Inside the envelope was a letter from "Lady E." asking the Wolves to meet her at her Parlan Tower town house in Middle Central at the sound of the second evening chime, which sounded shortly thereafter.

The Wolves made their way to Lady Elaydren's town house, but found that the door was open and the windows smashed, and an attack was clearly winding down. They rushed in and found Elaydren wounded, her magic spent, defending herself weakly against four Karrnathi zombies. All around them were Elaydren's personal guards and servants, as well as a few other zombies and a couple of Emerald Claw soldiers who had clearly fallen in the attack.

The zombies were doing their best to kill Elaydren before the Wolves could interfere, but Kanatash fired off an electricity missile that killed one and nearly destroyed the others. Pel called upon the Traveler and used positive energy to kill another, Brand finished one off with a lightning quick flurry of rapier thrusts and shortsword slashes and Kanatash ended the other one with another electrical missile.

Lady Elaydren composed herself and said "Once again I am in your debt. The zombies were only part of a larger force that attacked my guards and household staff. There were armored warriors wearing the symbol of the Emerald Claw and a warforged fighter wielding a wickedly curved scimitar. The worst of these, however, was their leader. He appeared first as a smiling merchant, rotund and jolly, who used so innocent a form to gain entry to my town house. Then his form seemed to melt and flow, and he appeared as a tall, emaciated man with white skin, red eyes and sharp fangs."

"They killed my guards, my servants... they smashed my pre-Galifar memory urn... and they took the schemas. By the Great Forge, the Emerald Claw has the schemas! Their leader indicated that they had also recovered another schema and the creation pattern, and that they knew of the location of the fourth schema as well! There is still time to retrieve the schemas and keep the Order of the Emerald Claw from gaining whatever power the completed creation pattern may possess. Time is of the essence, and there isn't a moment to waste!"

The Wolves didn't hesitate in accepting this duty from Lady Elaydren, especially after she offered them 5,000 gp each to undertake it, half now and half upon completion. She expressed a desire for discretion, as the schemas, as well as notes from her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, were entrusted to her, and losing them could hurt her standing in the House. Fortunately, Kedran's notes hinted at a location for the fourth schema, on the lost continent of Xen'drik. Elaydren handed them a letter of credit for 5,000 gold and told them to take two hours to equip themselves with potions and scrolls for the journey, and then return to her town house.

The Wolves returned to their usual stomping grounds in Upper Dura to purchase equipment for the journey. They purchased scrolls of waterbreathing, daylight and magic fang at the Dragon's Hoard, potions of cure light wounds from Good Spirits and a wand of cure light wounds from Wise Wood. Lysander and Pel went and purchased a magical bow, as well as a variety of survival and travel gear, in the Bazaar in Middle Dura.

In addition, Pel paid one year worth of rent on his new apartment, and Lysander arranged for Tock to pay his rent if he was out of town for more than a month.

Part Two - From Here to There:
Upon their return to Elaydren's town house, Brand spotted that Elaydren had hired common laborers, rather than House-affiliated magewrights, and realized just how much she wanted to keep the news of the theft quiet.

"I have secured you passage on a new form of transportation recently developed by House Cannith. It is called an undersea ship, for it travels secretly beneath the seas. Three such vehicles have been constructed. We built them for various intelligence agencies, but only one such group has had the vision to purchase one of the ships now that the Last War has ended. The other two remain in Cannith hands. Take this letter of passage to Byam, in the Grayflood district. He can be found in the vicinity of the Stone Docks. He will make sure you get safely to Stormreach and back again."

Given their luck with previous travel, the Wolves expressed more than a little concern about being on a ship traveling underwater, but they accepted this as the fastest and best method of getting to Stormreach relatively undetected.

"You might be able to pick up the Emerald Claw's trail in or around Stormreach. If that doesn't seem to be working, you can head directly to the ruins. Kedran's notes place the ancient site about four hundred miles up the Rachi River. At the turn in the Rachi River, where the land rises and the hands of stone reach for the sky, look toward the giant's left hand for guidance to the schema's resting place."

With that, Elaydren gave each character a pouch of gems. "Collect the four schemas and the creation pattern, return them to me, and an equal amount will be yours on your return. Good luck, and may the fortunes of the Houses and the Nations smile upon you."

Brand compared his map of Xen'drik to the clues provided by Kedran and satisfied himself that there was no match. He resolved to show the map to Lysander when they had more time to examine it. Then the Wolves headed down to the Grayflood district to find Captain Byam.

As it turned out, Byam was fairly easy to find, a dark-haired gnome engaged in a game of dice with other sailors. After collecting his winnings, he nodded in response to the letter of passage from Lady Elaydren and showed the Wolves into a warehouse set back from the docks. There, they first glimpsed their vessel, which looked like a thin, elongated airship that had fallen into the water. Rather than air or fire, however, the elemental binding ring was that of violently spinning water. Several gnomes were busy carrying crates into the craft through the hatch in the top.

"This is the Sea Dart, my friends, and I am its captain, Byam of the ocean depths!"

Byam showed the Wolves down into the submarine and took them up to the observation blister, which featured a magical window allowing him to see anywhere around the ship. He then showed them to the two cabins, each capable of supporting four people (albeit not comfortably). Brand, Luggoth and Whitehearth claimed one cabin, while Kanatash, Lysander and Pel took the other. Byam informed them that he was taking a shortcut through Shargon's Teeth that should get them to Stormreach in three and a half days, almost as fast as an airship could manage.

On the second day of travel, Byam called the Wolves up to the observation blister to witness Shargon's Teeth, the stone and coral columns surrounding Xen'drik, from a different point of view. From this perspective, Byam found them quite beautiful. However, their beauty belied a certain danger, as the Wolves and crew found out moments later when something struck the ship, causing them all to go flying across the observation deck, slamming into walls and floor. All except Luggoth, whose shifter reflexes allowed him to keep his feet, falling prey only to a falling bit of debris that bounced off his head.

Looking out, the Wolves and Byam could see a massive, almost thirty foot long shark with bony ridges gliding away into the water. A gnomish crewman cried out that the binding ring had been damaged, and a small leak in the cargo compartment gave no one any comfort.

"Blast that overgrown sardine's mishapen fin! Get us to the surface before the elemental gets free and we're stuck in these cursed waters! Rise, rise!"

Byam assured the Wolves that once they reached the surface, repairs would only take a couple of hours, but another complication arose as the Sea Dart was caught from above in huge nets strung across Shargon's Teeth. "All right, crew! We're going to have to take a swim and cut the Sea Dart free!"

Byam turned to the adventurers. "Any help you can provide would be much appreciated."

Two gnome crewmembers drank potions of waterbreathing, grabbed water crossbows from the armory and exited the airlock, tethered to the ship by 50' long tethers. As the Wolves drank potions of their own and grabbed the two available medium water crossbows, they were also fitted for tethers.

Brand and Luggoth were first out of the airlock, and Brand summoned an octopus to help. Pel meanwhile cast bless, and Lysander began singing for inspiration as he and Kanatash exited the airlock and stepped out onto the submarine's hull.

As the Wolves began moving to cut the nets, the dire shark appeared again and bit down on Luggoth. Kanatash responded with thrusts of mental energy, but the shark's primitive brain resisted any effect, and the Wolves watched in horror as the shark tossed back its head, swallowing Luggoth whole. Luggoth swung a mighty blow at the shark's digestive tract, trying to escape, but was unable to cut himself free in one shot. He readied for another blow, even as the digestive acids and crushing muscles of the shark's stomach threatened to knock him unconscious.

Brand teleported over, losing his tether and diving into the shark's mouth after Luggoth. Unfortunately, in his rush to rescue Luggoth, he hadn't worked out the plan through the mind link, and thus he arrived in the shark's gullet just in time for Kanatash to hop Luggoth in time, freeing him from the shark. Brand used his dragonmark to teleport out again, as Lysander and Pel fired their crossbows at the massive beast.

Lysander attempted to distract the shark with an image of a smaller shark, but it seemed to be under the direction of something smarter than its own primitive brain. Kanatash and Pel unleashed magical and psionic energies at the shark, doing minor damage, as the shark moved in and swallowed one of the gnomes.

Brand chopped one section of the net free as the shark grabbed the other gnome in its jaws. Kanatash created an energy wall around the gnome which destroyed the front section of the net and drove the shark away, freeing the gnome.

Pel wrapped his tether around Brand and cast cure moderate wounds to restore some of the damage Brand had taken inside the shark, and Brand teleported with Pel to his old tether and an uncut section of the nets.

The shark turned its attention toward Lysander, grabbing him in its powerful jaws, and Kanatash unleashed a time hop to spare him from being swallowed, as Pel chopped at another section of the net.

Kanatash blasted the last remaining section of the net with a fiery energy missile, freeing the ship, which began to rise. The Wolves followed their tethers inside, as did the surviving gnome, and the shark fled. Lysander and Luggoth emerged from their time hops inside the ship, and the Sea Dart rose to the surface with a relative minimum of casualties.

Once they were above the water, the gnomes began making repairs, and the Wolves took up guard positions, suspicious that sahuagin might have been behind the attack. Indeed, Brand spotted a group of them moving quietly through the rocky shore of the islet that the Sea Dart was parked next to, and Kanatash summoned a fire wall to hold them back.

The sahuagin dove into the water to come around and up onto the Sea Dart, but were met with harsh resistance, including an electrical missile from Kanatash that killed two of their number, forcing the others into an underwater retreat. The rest of the repairs were uneventful, and after about two hours, the Sea Dart was underway once more.

Another day and a half later, on the evening of Sypheros 26, the Sea Dart deposited the Wolves about a half mile down the shore from Stormreach, in order to conceal how they arrived. Byam expressed a willingness to wait for them for 30 days, then handed them travel papers and a letter of credit.

"Slip into Stormreach by means of the docks. The travel papers indicate that you arrived aboard the House Lyrandar galleon Strong Wind and that you're part of an expedition from Morgrave University. Just don't reveal any of this where anyone from the expedition can hear you - they probably won't go along with your story, since they don't know you from the King of Q'barra. The letter of credit can be used to acquire transportation into the jungle... it can be used at the House Cannith enclave, and only at the enclave, and only for transport. Good luck!"

XP: 1920

Upcoming Schedule - August/September

With Paul's character vanished, we can go ahead and play Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw through to its finish in September.

August 4th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Everyone in?)
August 11th - Gaming off (Randy in Miami, Nate out of town)
August 18th - Texas Hold'Em Game (regular gaming off)
August 25th - Gaming off (Dragon's Lair 20th anniversary, Randy working)

September 1st - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (If Jason is available)
September 8th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Paul out)
September 15th - Texas Hold'Em Game (Regular gaming off)
September 22nd - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Paul out)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon (All in?)

Two Weeks Have Passed...

Sypheros 8 - Sypheros 19, YK 998

Since your arrival back in Sharn on 8 Sypheros (an autumn month equivalent to October), about two weeks have passed. Miraculously, in the rain-soaked city of Sharn, the last five days have been sunny, although storm clouds gathered once more a day or two ago, and the rain will almost certainly return soon.

Viorr hired a House Tharashk half-orcish inquisitive named Rar'ashak Duanda to locate and return William's body. After two weeks, Viorr has discontinued his service, as Duanda was unable to find the body. His final report to you indicated that members of the Emerald Claw had been seen by passers-by taking the body away mere minutes after it hit the ground, killing two members of the guard in the process. Duanda tracked down the specific band of the Claw that had snatched the body in Korranberg, just as they attempted to cross the border into Darguun, but they managed to battle him off long enough to sacrifice their own lives rather than giving up further information. He tried to engage a cleric friend in the area to speak with dead, but they had been protected from such intrusions by powerful necromantic magic. He tried to use his dragonmark ability to locate the body, and it was protected by magic as well. Duanda and Viorr express their condolences, but they believe your friend's body to be in the hands of the Emerald Claw.

To add insult to this particular injury, roughly three days after you got back to Sharn, you recieved a summons from Sharri d'Deneith, one that came with several Deneith blademarks should you decide it was a summons to refuse. When you met with Sharri (either willingly or after taking a beating from the trained soldiers), she expressed that she held you responsible for William's death, dragging him into a life of combat that she had expressly forbidden him to engage in. It wasn't a debate, and she shut down all of your arguments that William had willingly, perhaps even a bit overzealously, sought out that adventure. She warned you not to expect friendship from House Deneith, and that the Wandering Wolves would be subject to scrutiny from her house. If she can find a way in the future to hurt you without exposing herself politically, by providing support to your enemies or revealing any illegal activities you're engaged in, rest assured that she will.

Your shop, Gareth's Gear, managed pretty well in its first month of operation. Under the daily management of Jalis ir'Mroranon, a female dwarf with ties to the Mroranon mining clan (whose father is an ambassador in Sharn), you broke even in the very first month and made a tidy sum selling your adventuring spoils. With Tock taking up full-time duties at Gareth's as in-house artificer and crafter of potions, scrolls and wondrous items, the reputation of the shop can only grow.

You have all been forced to curtail your daily duties with Morgrave University thanks to increase roles in adventuring and duties to your Houses, guilds or the shop. Each of you remains on the list for future endeavors in Xen'drik, but your teaching or assisting duties have been severely scaled back in favor of less nomadic help. Figure about one day of each week is now spent at your Morgrave jobs. For Brand, one day organizing and redrawing maps. For Pel, one day in the library sorting books and providing assistance. For Lysander, a weekly music and storytelling class. Luggoth and Kanatash, of course, are not currently gainfully employed.

This also means it was time to move house, out of the dorms of Morgrave. The most logical thing to do would be to either stay at the Guildhouse (5 sp/day each, basically 7 gp for the duration of your stay in Sharn this time) or, if you want a more permanent home, you could rent an average residence for 1d4x10 gp/month or an upscale residence for 2d8x10 gp/month. You could go cheaper, but you're very likely to be robbed or killed in such a neighborhood, given your apparent wealth and despite your formidable skills. You'll each need to let me know your thoughts on where your character is living.

Tock is immune to these changes, of course. Retiring from adventuring, even with his increased work at the shop, leaves him plenty of time to apprentice and teach at Morgrave and he'll continue to live there. However, on 12 Sypheros, four days after returning, he is attacked by a group of students at Morgrave, who seem to be under the influence of someone or something else and don't remember their actions after the attack is stopped by Tock and Morgrave guards. When Tock checks back in on his quarters, he finds them ransacked, although a quick overview indicated that nothing was taken.

During your time in Sharn, the celebration of Wildnight (18-19 Sypheros) will take place. This is a festival during which the Fury, Sovereign of Passions and Madness, reaches the height of her power, and the streets fill with raucous revelry and wild celebrations that last well into the night. Being minor celebrities, each of you has the opportunity to attend several parties as well as just enjoy yourselves on the streets of Sharn. Think of it as Mardi Gras for Eberron, with the same downsides of riots, brawls and crimes of passion mixed in with the hedonistic fun.

Brand - No further contact from your father, although you did exchange general pleasantries and catching up messages on a weekly basis with your mother via Sivis message stations. You found a fair bit in common with Luggoth, given his devotion to the wild, and I imagine you would have helped him find a place to live in Sharn.

Beyond deciding where to live and working two days out of the fourteen, Brand has a pretty free schedule, probably the most open of the entire group. Let me know what you want to do. If you want to take a trip out to the Eldeen Reaches during this time, you can, and that'll take up about seven or eight of your days (two or three of them spent in the Reaches). It's up to you and Luggoth as to whether or not he'd come with you to see the area, which seems suited to his sensibilities as well.

Kanatash - I really need you to write up some background on this character so I have some sense of what he's doing between adventures and what kind of subplots I should be coming up with for him. In the meantime, he needs to decide where to stay and what he wants to do with his downtime in Sharn. There is a Riedran Embassy in the city, and the ambassador often speaks at Morgrave University, where he is well-liked (and well-guarded, before you get any ideas). There are about 1,600 Kalashtar in Sharn (out of roughly 200,000 total population), most of whom live in Overlook, an apartment district in Upper Dura. There, you'll find tailors and restaurants catering to Adaran styles, average or poor residences (Kanatash is one of the few exceptions who could live poor, because he's among a racially friendly populace) and two shrines, The Gathering Light (martial arts/meditation) and The Shrine of il-Yannah (run by a powerful psion named Havakhad and devoted to worship of the Path of Light).

It's up to you whether you live in this area or whether you want to stick closer to your new friends.

Lysander - If he so wishes, Lysander can see Arenydee up to three times during these two weeks. Each time, she will suggest a cautious exchange of information that doesn't endanger either of you too much, along with a meal, then a play, then... well, it would be the third date, if you get my meaning.

As I emailed you privately, your House had one wish for you to engage in these two weeks, you can email me if you don't remember.

Given his adventuring duties, Lysander has not been able to take any long-term gigs in town. However, he has been quite popular nightly at various night spots, as much for his tales of adventure in many lands as for his skillful music. By taking 10 on his performances, Lysander can easily make anywhere from 3-30 sp per day. Given that he probably has about 10 performances during this time, figure that he can easily cover the cost of staying at the guild hall and your dates with Arenydee, or pay for an average residence and burn about 5-10 of your personal gold for those dates. If you want to actually roll the performances or roll the money made, we can certainly do that before the game starts and you can know exactly what you've made and what you've had to spend on lodgings. In fact, I'm willing to trust you if you want to make 10 performance rolls and post them in comments, or let me know if you'd rather take 10 on each performance and I can roll up the gold you earn and post that in the comments.

Lysander has an encounter on 14 Sypheros when he detects that he is being followed. When he takes a detour to try and trap his pursuer, the pursuit vanishes.

Luggoth - As with Kanatash, I really need some background ASAP so I can know what to work with as far as subplots go. As far as basics, though, shifters don't have neighborhoods of their own in Sharn, but most of them are concentrated in Lower Northedge, Middle Tavick's Landing and the Depths. There are only about 6,500 in the city total.

So let me know what you decide about where to live (and deciding to live outside the city is possible, but would make you hard to reach as part of the group, so it's probably not a good idea) and if you want to seek out any kind of work while you're living in Sharn.

Pel - Given the war between The Tyrants and the Daask, not to mention your own shaky standing in the Tyrants, it's probably a good idea to keep a low profile and maintain a cover identity or two while in Sharn. Your monthly contact with Xain at the Cracked Mirror is uneventful, as you pass on information gathered during the Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (including information on Viorr, Lucan, Arenydee and the Soul Blade, I presume) and he warns you that your name, along with the name of the Wandering Wolves, has been mentioned more than once in connection with the Emerald Claw in the city.

In fact, you have a run-in with a pair of well-armed and combat-trained half-orcs during Wildnight who provide you with several bruises before you run them off. You're not sure if this is related to the Tyrants, the Daask, the Emerald Claw or something else.

That's it. You also are free to buy items (both magic and mundane) and do whatever else you want. Use the comments below to let me know anything you want to do in your downtime and to answer any questions raised above, especially where you decide to live and what (in general) you decide to do.

Speaking of Hold'Em

For those that are curious, here's how the game broke down:

Randy - Sixth Place (first out, pair of Aces against Nate's trip 7s)
Nick - Fifth Place
Debbie - Fourth Place
Chris - Third Place
Nate - Second Place
Charles - First Place

I'd write what other hands folks busted out on, but I don't remember. :)

Enjoyed the Hold'em...

...despite the fact that I did not win. When are you leaving for SD, Randy? Perhaps we should get another practice round in before you go. Work on our "faking out" skills.

Also, Barnes said that if/when you do the supervillian one shot, he is totally there.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Knight of the Silver Flame

Sypheros 2 - Sypheros 8, YK 998

With Lucan defeated, the Wolves faced the difficulty of how to transport him. In the short term, they had to figure out a way to get him outside without having him evaporate in the sun. In the long term, they needed transportation to the next town.

They decided to wait until night to emerge from the ziggurat, and grabbed some of the moldy tapestries from the Otyugh's room to wrap up Lucan's body. After a night of rest, they headed back up to the entry room to check on Grilsha and Arenydee. Arenydee would not reveal her employer, but did say she had worked with and against Lucan in the past, and that she had been engaged to locate and capture the Soul Blade. She also said that she realized she was outmatched, and she was grateful for being saved from a vampire's domination, and she would not try to take the blade or Lucan from the Wolves if they would take her with them to the next city and part ways.

Grilsha revealed that she had not been dominated, and expressed that loyalty to her brother, even as a vampire, had been what drove her to stay with him. She didn't know what he was planning, but he had told her he needed to get to Karrnath, and she had agreed to help him. She was not pleased that her brother was being turned back over to the King's Dark Lanterns, but she was glad he hadn't been destroyed, and agreed not to make any more trouble. This would be easy for her, as the Wolves decided to keep her bound and gagged to prevent any spellcasting.

When they emerged from the ziggurat into the night, the Wolves found a House Orien landcart waiting for them. The driver admitted that he wasn't sure they would ever see them emerge, but that he had been ordered to wait for them for a reasonable amount of time.

The 13 hour trip to Aruldusk passed uneventfully, and the Wolves, along with Grilsha, Arenydee and the body of Lucan, were taken to an office of House Orien there. Arinya, the head of household for the area, offered them food and drink and expressed his regrets about the trouble they suffered on the lightning rail. He offered them one way lightning rail passage to anywhere in Khorvaire, and to put them up at an inn in town for a few days if they'd like. The Wolves accepted both.

Arenydee took her passage as a trip back to Sharn, and told Lysander to get in touch with her sometime by checking for messages at the Barmin Tower Sivis message station. The Wolves, along with Grilsha and Lucan, went to The Silver Chain Inn, a House Ghallanda establishment. Kanatash, Tock and Whitehearth waited in the room to guard Lucan and Grilsha while Pel, Brand and Lysander went out into Aruldusk to explore and shop.

Pel did some research in their libraries on vampires and found rumors of a place in Xen'drik that could be used to restore even the undead to life. The information was extremely sketchy, but he believed it could point the way to more information at the Morgrave Library in Sharn. Lysander, meanwhile, sought out a magic shop so that the Wolves could re-equip.

Brand went to the Chapel of the Silver Flame in the area to get the life force that Lucan had drained from him restored. He met Draci Sarhain, the priestess of Aruldusk, and she told him that she couldn't help him, but that the Bishop, Ossul Hetrion, was in town and he could. She had a young acolyte show Brand around the church while the bishop finished visiting with some parishioners.

Bishop Hetrion met with Brand and told him that ordinarily, he wouldn't use the powers of the Silver Flame to heal someone not of the faith, but he believed that the Silver Flame had directed Brand and his friends here. They had successfully battled a vampire, exactly the kind of creature of evil that the church preached against, and perhaps they could help with a matter that was plaguing the local chapel. Brand agreed, and Hetrion called upon the powers of his faith to restore Brand's life force.

With Brand healed, Bishop Hetrion told him what he would like the Wolves to do. A band of marauding shifters had been harassing the chapel and its parishioners, and a paladin from the church named Verodin Atrelioth had traveled up to the Burnt Wood to deal with them. That had been several days ago, and no one had seen him since. The Bishop asked if he could send a young man named Drego, the same one who had taken Verodin up to the Burnt Wood, with the party and maybe they could find a trail, track and recover the paladin.

Brand agreed, and after the adventurers bought some magic items and scrolls, they were ready to go. They bought a coffin to store Lucan in and secured him in a House Orien locker, and they left Grilsha in the care of Orien security as well. The House arranged for them to have some magebred horses to take them to the Burnt Wood, and Drego lead them to the place he had last seen Verodin.

Brand was unable to pick up a trail for Verodin, but he did find tracks indicating about a half-dozen shifters. He lead the Wolves down the trail until they found a clearing. Unfortunately, the clearing was not full of shifters. It was a trap, a set of tracks skillfully mislaid to lead the adventurers to a pack of three owlbears.

Whitehearth rushed in and attacked, nipping at the heels of an owlbear that viciously slashed him and left him dying as a result. Kanatash lifted himself in the air as Tock cast Cat's Grace on Brand's armor, who moved in past the charging owlbears, stabbing one with his rapier as he tried to get to the fallen Whitehearth. Pel cast Bless and Lysander began singing.

Kanatash unleashed a fiery energy missile on the two lead owlbears, as Tock swung his armblade at the other owlbear, who dodged the attack while trying to claw Tock in return. One of the owlbears bit Brand, who followed through with a strike of his shortsword and rapier in response, which Lysander followed up with a longsword slash. Pel moved through the woods quickly and quietly to reach Whitehearth's side and prepare to cast healing magic on him.

Pel noticed that Whitehearth's bleeding had stopped on its own, and so he moved in and landed a vicious scimitar blow against one of the owlbears. Kanatash blasted another fire missile that killed one of the owlbears and wounded the others, causing them to attempt to flee. Brand killed one with a stab of his rapier, and Lysander quickly whipped out his bow and killed the other with an arrow through its head.

As the combat ended, the Wolves had the sensation that they were not alone. They looked around and saw what looked like thirty different pairs of eyes. A loud, booming voice told them to put down their weapons and they wouldn't be harmed. Reluctant to actually disarm but seeing the numbers up against them, the Wolves sheathed their weapons.

From out of one of the trees, a tall, muscular shifter stepped forward and introduced himself as Luggoth. He said that the paladin had come into the woods and had been taken, and that the shifters had only been attacking the chapel because they had been blackmailed into it by a Cult of the Dragon Below.

One of the shifters in the woods stepped too far out and revealed himself, and the Wolves could see that it was just a child. The others stepped out at Luggoth's call, and the Wolves could see that they were all children. Luggoth was the only adult. He explained that he had been passing through the woods and had found the children and taken them under his protection. Their parents had been taken by the Cult, and they had sent the children to harass the villagers to draw the paladin into the woods. Luggoth had seen a Dolgaunt attack and capture the paladin, and knew where he had been taken.

Luggoth agreed to help them recover the paladin, in large part because it would help smooth relations between the shifters and Silver Flame but also because it would mean he could help rescue the shifter adults. However, he needed someone to stay with the children and protect them. The Wolves were reluctant to leave one of their own, but Tock agreed to stay. He handed the Heward's Handy Haversack over to Pel.

Luggoth lead them to a clearing, the last place he had seen the Dolgaunt. Brand tracked the Dolgaunt to a series of bushes, and beneath that he found a divine rune. Kanatash attemped to dispel it, but the magic was too powerful to be suppressed. Pel called upon the Traveler for help, and, bolstered by Lysander's songs, succeeded in bypassing the rune trap, revealing a 10-foot wide passage descending sharply down.

The passage was completely dark, with no light of any kind, so Luggoth kept a sunrod out to illuminate the area. As they walked, the Wolves could hear a distant screaming sound. The passage soon levelled out and widened, and the Wolves found themselves face to face with a fiendish girallon. Luggoth immediately fired an arrow that missed the charging Girallon, who followed up with a punch to Luggoth's chest. Brand, guarded by Pel's Protection from Evil spell, tumbled past a clumsy attack by the girallon and sunk his rapier deep into the creature's side. Lysander moved in and cut one of the creature's four arms with his longsword, and Kanatash fired a ray of cold from his dorje that went wide of the mark.

Luggoth pulled out his greatsword and landed a solid blow on the girallon, slashing it from shoulder to waist and spilling forth gouts of black blood. The enraged girallon swung wildly, hitting Pel and biting Luggoth, but in flailing, it opened itself to a vicious scimitar strike from Pel and a rapier stab in the throat from Brand. It gurgled and bled, but didn't die, swinging another fist and connecting with Lysander and resisting Kanatash's mind thrust attack. Luggoth finished off the dying beast by chopping across its midsection with his greatsword.

After using the wand and some potions to heal up, the Wolves moved forward into another area, one full of chambes that had cloth and wood, clearly meant as living quarters. The screams were getting louder now, a cacophny of unearthly voices echoing from every wall and making hearing difficult. Brand spotted something moving in the shadows, and they were attacked by a pack of chokers.

The chokers swung their elongated arms, whipping at Kanatash but failing to grab him. Kanatash stepped back and fired an energy missile of fire that killed one choker and severely wounded another. The chokers responded by grabbing Lysander and Pel, and dodging further attacks from the rest of the Wolves.

Kanatash launched another energy missile, this time a burst of cold, killing all but one of the chokers, which fled back into the darkened hallways. Lysander healed himself and Pel and then the Wolves headed down the corridor to pursue the chokers. They found them there, chittering in a language they didn't understand but clearly asking for mercy. Kanatash pointed at them and indicated for them to lay on the ground, and they did, and the Wolves searched all the rooms except the one the chokers were actually in, finding nothing but cloth and wood.

Delving further into the cavern, they found a room that was clearly used for body disposal. Bones and corpses filled the room, and the stench of death hung heavy in the air. An open bag, showing a glint of platinum, sat atop one of the more recent corpses. Fearing a trap, Lysander used his mage hand to bring the platinum over. Nothing stirred in the room, but the Wolves did not press their luck, leaving the room behind to see what was in the room next door.

This room, also carved out of stone, was a prison with metal gates. Inside, the Wolves saw the shifters they had been seeking, seven men and three women, all beaten near to death, hanging limply from chains affixing their arms to stone pillars. Pel searched for traps on the door, but the Wolves then decided not to open it yet, leaving the captives in their relatively safe surroundings until they had dealt with whatever was causing the screaming.

The Wolves soon found the source of the screaming. A dozen or so dolgrims were carving out the rock wall with picks as the dolgaunt watched from atop a 5-foot tall, 100 foot wide altar carved of stone. In the center of the stone, barely visible in the light of the sunrod, was the paladin, stripped to the waist with an obsidian unholy symbol jammed deep into his shoulder. Shadows spun all around him, clearly causing the torment and pain that was causing him to scream.

Pel immediately fired his crossbow, and the dolgaunt deflected it, revealing his monk training. Luggoth revealed his own abilities, shifting into his animal form and leaping to the top of the altar and swinging his greatsword into the dolgaunt's hollowed chest, causing it to stagger backward, bleeding heavily.

The dolgrims responded, picking up crossbows and firing at their adversaries. The shower of bolts mostly missed, but one hit Luggoth and another the dolgaunt. Lysander put one of the dolgrims to sleep with his spell, then cast mirror image on himself and began singing to inspire his comrades.

Kanatash summoned a force screen to protect himself as the dolgaunt attacked Luggoth with his tentacles, cutting into his flesh but failing to drain his vitality. Pel, moving up to the altar himself, activated a sunrod from the Haversack and revealed another adversary, a cleric of the Dragon Below who had been moving in from the back of the altar. As Luggoth swung another punishing sword blow into the dolgaunt, the cleric cast a darkness spell that enveloped all three of them.

Brand and Whitehearth engaged the dolgrims in battle as Pel moved up to the paladin to see if he could help. Luggoth swung blindly at the dolgaunt, but his bestial agility protected him even in the darkness against the dolgaunt's attacks. Before the cleric could do anything more, Kanatash warped time around him, sending him about 30 seconds into the future.

Pel pulled the everbright lantern from the Haversack, canceling the darkness. The Dolgrims responded by firing crossbows at him, landing a couple of hits. The cleric shook off the effect of Kanatash's time hop and tried to curse Pel, who resisted the attack as Kanatash launched an energy missile of cold at all of the adversaries, killing the dolgaunt and severely wounding the cleric.

Lysander used his dragonmark to create an image of a wall of fire, holding off dolgrim reinforcements, as Pel moved toward the cleric and slashed him with his scimitar. Brand used his dragonmark to teleport next to the cleric as Lysander moved in, and the two of them finished him off.

Kanatash then used his telekinetic powers to pull the unholy symbol free of the paladin's shoulder, ending the spell. The paladin was grateful, and the Wolves made sure he knew that the shifters were partially responsible for rescuing him. The Wolves escorted Verodin back to Aruldusk. After a brief rest, they decided to take their lightning rail trip back to Sharn. Luggoth, nomadic by nature and intrigued by the "wolf" theme of the adventurers that seemed so ideally suited to his own gifts, asked to join them.

The lightning rail trip back to Sharn was uneventful, taking about 5 days and landing the Wolves back in Sharn on 8 Sypheros. They immediately went to see Viorr, who was pleased with their efforts and who took Grilsha, Lucan and the Soul Blade into custody. He gave the Wolves their reward, 2,500 gp each minus the cost of the lightning rail travel they had purchased, and expressed his sympathies on the loss of William d'Deneith. He offered to pick up the cost of the House Tharask inquisitives searching for William's body as an additional thanks for a job well done.

XP: 3850

Upcoming Schedule - August

Here's the schedule as I see it for the rest of July and August. Folks chime in if you need to schedule a weekend off, either by editing the post or commenting in the comments section. As always, I'm estimating on how long it'll take to complete modules, it could wind up being a week earlier or later, but either way, it'll be the Eberron game.

By the way, Matt (Dave's brother) has raised the possibility of a "10 years later" sequel of sorts to our Cthulhu game in October. Would y'all be interested in doing that? Seems like if we're still in Eberron at that point, it'd be as good a time as any to take a break, and I wouldn't mind playing Cthulhu again. Paul and Jason would need new characters, but otherwise it'd be a return to our Cthulhu characters, unless one of us wanted to change out.

July 28th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Paul possibly out)
August 4th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Everyone in?)
August 11th - Gaming off (Paul out, Nate out)
August 18th - Texas Hold'Em Game (regular gaming off)
August 25th - Gaming off (Dragon's Lair 20th anniversary, Randy working)

Eberron Character: Luggoth

Name: Luggoth
Razorclaw Shifter, Barbarian
Feral Might: Rageblood Vigor
Background: Shifter - Persecution (+2 to Stealth)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 19, Dex 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 15, Con 17, Dex 13, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10.

Init +11
Speed 6
Passive Insight 15
Passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Giant

AC: 24 Fort: 23 Reflex: 21 Will: 17
HP: 88 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 22

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +13, Nature +10, Intimidate +10

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +9, Arcana +5, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +5, Endurance +8, Heal +5, History +5, Insight +5, Perception +5, Religion +5, Stealth +11, Streetwise +5, Thievery +7

FEATS
Blurring Claws, Wild Senses, Fast Runner, Sturdy Shifter, Powerful Charge, Improved Rageblood Vigor

POWERS
At-Will: Recuperating Strike, Howling Strike

Encounter: Great Cleave, Blade Sweep, Tide of Blood

Daily: Macetail's Rage, Frost Wolf Rage, Stone Bear Rage

Utility: Combat Sprint, Combat Surge, Wellspring of Renewal

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Hunter's Kit, Identification Papers, with Portrait, Climber's Kit, Bestial Hide Armor +2, Vengeful Greataxe +2, Greatbow, Dagger, Handaxe (2), Periapt of Cascading Health +2, Bracers of Mighty Striking (heroic tier), Potion of Healing (heroic tier) (6), Potion of Vigor (heroic tier) (2), Hunter's Flint (heroic tier), Gauntlets of Ogre Power (heroic tier)

History: The man who calls himself Luggoth has seen hardship and pain in spades throughout the course of his short life. Born in the western lands of the Eldeen Reaches, Luggoth’s tribe of longstriders was a nomadic band, living off of the land and taking care of its own. Their contact with other races was scarce, but of a friendly sort. His early days were spent trapping and playing, roaming the land like a near-wild creature.

And then The Inquisition came.

The Church of the Silver Flame struck when Luggoth’s tribe had temporarily settled along the Reaches’ outskirts. Luggoth’s own father his him in the woods (he was just a boy at the time) and went back to defend the tribe. When Luggoth came out of hiding days later, fueled by fear and hunger, he found his tribe dead, slaughtered by the Paladins of the Silver Flame.

He wondered for months, trying to find signs of any remaining members of his tribe. While his search would prove fruitless, a traveler from the shifter settlement The Wolf’s Paw, discovered a nearly starved Luggoth and brought him back to the village. There, Luggoth was accepted into the community and raised until his adult years. While he grew some bonds to the settlement and its community, he never forgot the slaughter of his tribe. As soon as he was able, he set out to help those others who might be persecuted by The Silver Flame.

Now, Luggoth roams the land on a quest for something that isn’t quite justice and isn’t quite vengeance. He protects the Shifters he comes across if the need help, but he has slowly become more trustful of men. The Silver Flame, however, is still a subject of hatred for him. Were he to encounter a Silver Flame paladin, and know there would be no consequences, he would kill the man without a shred of remorse. Somewhere in the back of his mind, however, he knows his actions might incur the Church’s wrath.

Luggoth has heard of the young woman who now leads the Church of the Silver Flame. He dreams of viewing her with his own eyes. Whether he will demand reparation or blood when that moment arrives, however, he does not know.

3.5 Stats:
Race: Shifter (Longstrider)
Class: Barbarian 5/Ranger 1/Weretouched Master 5
Experience: 55,676 (Next Level 66,000)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Religion: The Traveler
Homeland: Eldeen Reaches
Age: 23 Height: 5'9" Weight: 195 lbs.

Statistics: STR 19, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 11, CHA 12, BAB +9, Fort +10 (+15), Ref +7 (+12), Will +2 (+4), Init +3 (+5), AC 26 (+8 armor, +3 Dex, +1 deflection, +2 natural armor, +2 ring of force shield), HP 113

Skills: Balance +2 (+5), Climb +4 (+9), Handle Animal +6 (+7), Heal +1 (+1), Hide +4 (+7), Intimidate +2 (+3), Jump +3 (+8), Knowledge (nature) +5 (+5), Listen +2 (+3), Move Silently +6 (+9), Ride +4 (+7), Survival +11 (+11), Swim +4 (+7)

Class Abilities: Favored Enemy: Human (+2), Fast Movement, Improved Uncanny Dodge (retain Dex when flat-footed, cannot be flanked), Trapsense +1, Rage 2/day (+4 Str/Con, +2 Will, -2 AC), Weretouched +1 (+2 Dex, 1d6+1 fangs), Weretouched 2 (trip attack), Frightful Shifting, Hybrid Form (+2 Str, +4 Dex, +8 Con)
Racial Abilities: Low-light vision, Longstrider (+2 Dex/+20 ft Speed, 2/day, lasts 8 rounds), Beasthide (+2 AC when shifting)
Weapons/Attacks: +15 (1d12 +7, greataxe +2), + 15 (2d4 +5, masterwork scythe), +11 (1d4+3, (2) punching daggers), +11 (1d6+4, fangs), +12 (1d6+3, (2) throwing axes), +12 (1d8, Longbow w/20 arrows, 16 +1 arrows)

Equipment:

+3 Glamered Breastplate, Ring of Protection +1, amulet of natural armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, potion of cure serious wounds, feather fall talisman, backpack, waterskin, (10) days rations, healer's kit, 50' hemp rope, sunrod, 51 pp, letter of credit for 5100 gp

Feats: Extra Shifter Trait, Power Attack, Healing Factor, Longstride Elite
Proficiencies: Simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, all shields (except tower)
Languages: Common

Power Selection

Hey Randy!

Looking through the books again. While Project Quori Spirit is powerful, what it does (summon a lawful evil nightmare spirit to fight for you) is not really something Kanatash would do. So I'd like to drop that and take Sense Danger (also from Magic of Eberron) instead.

Cheers!
Ben

Adding Contacts

In discussing Lysander's role as an operative of House Phiarlan, he suggested I take a look at the contacts rules from Unearthed Arcana. I've looked, and I think I might go ahead and add them to the campaign. Here they are in a nutshell:

This system codifies a phenomenon commonplace in most long-term campaigns: the friendly bartender, gruff weaponsmith or absent-minded sage who points the PCs in the right direction, passes along important clues or offers unusual knowledge. With this variant, the PCs have one or more unnamed contacts marked on their character sheets for later use. A player can define a contact for his character at any point during the game, giving the PC access to a friendly NPC.

A contact won't risk life or livelihood on the PC's say-so, but a contact makes some sacrifices for a friend. For example, a contact will burn the midnight oil translating an ancient text or sneak the key to the pantry out of the castle (as long as it's back by morning). There's an inverse relationship between the contact's importance in the ongoing campaign and the amount of help he can provide. In other words, if you choose the mayor as your contact, he's going to be too busy to serve you at a moment's notice, but he's very helpful when you get an audience. Beppo the cobbler, on the other hand, practically lives in his shop, making him available day and night, but the ways in which he can help you are more limited.

There are three types of contacts. Information Contacts are useful for what they know. They're the ones who hear all the rumors - and they can discern which ones are true. Influence Contacts are useful because of who they know or who they're associated with. While a player can't define the queen as his character's contact, he can define one of her chambermaids as a contact. Skill Contacts are useful for what they can do. Some skills - especially categories of Craft, Profession and Knowledge - are rarely possessed by PCs. A special category of the skill contact is the linguist.

Bards get contacts every 2 levels. Clerics, Paladins and Rogues get them every 3 levels. Fighters, Sorcerers and Artificers get them every 4 levels. And Barbarians, Druids, Monks, Rangers and Wizards get them every 5 levels.

There are a few more details on pages 179-180 of Unearthed Arcana, but that's the basics. Any thoughts?

Schedule Update: Game Delayed

Just so everybody knows, schedule conflicts (Chris was sick, Ben was tired, Paul was out) caused us to call the game this week. So those of you who bowed out, you didn't miss anything, and with any luck, we'll have a complete group next week to play the adventure I have written, called "Knight of the Silver Flame."

Eberron Adventure Journal: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (5)

Sypheros 1 - Sypheros 2, YK 998

Part Six - Lucan's Last Stand

While the Wolves were healing and planning on how to take down Lucan, one of the House Orien crew came up to them and asked what had happened. Brand, not a fan of House Orien, brusquely told the man that they had tried to capture a vampire that had been on board, and that he had fled into the ziggurat in the distance, and they were headed to capture him. The crewman explained that he had to try and convince the elemental to take the train to Aruldusk, and wasn't easily swayed from this decision.

The Wolves gathered their things, which now included a bound and gagged Grilsha and a bound Arenydee, and headed over toward the ziggurat. They saw that there was a stagnant lake, about a quarter mile across, between them and the stairs leading up to the only door. They wanted to rest and recover their spellcasting and psionic capabilities, but it was the middle of the night, and they worried that Lucan might attack or, worse, escape.

After much discussion about building a raft, swimming across or trying to figure something else out, Tock walked out into the lake. He found that it was about 10 feet deep at its deepest point, and didn't have any creatures or threats in it. The Wolves cut down branches from nearby trees to use as flotation devices and formed a train of sorts, with Tock walking across the bottom and the others swimming along and simultaneously being pulled along behind him. When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, they set Arenydee and Grilsha down and headed up the stairs.

The light from Tock's sunrod illuminated the interior room, a chamber made of polished gray marble with eight pillars that looked like octopus tentacles. It also illuminated the creature trying to hide at the back of the room, a cloaker, which immediately began an unnerving moan.

Whitehearth charged right in and snapped at the Cloaker, landing a solid blow, as Kanatash manifested psionic crossbow bolts. Tock charged as well, but missed and was engulfed and bitten by the Cloaker. This stopped the moaning, and Brand and Lysander moved in. The Cloaker avoided their attacks, but Lysander began an inspiring song, and Pel fired a magic missile that struck the Cloaker, but didn't cause it to loose Tock.

Whitehearth struck again, and the Cloaker released Tock and let loose a moan of fear that shook Whitehearth and sent Brand running outside into the water. Lysander quickly changed songs to counteract Whitehearth's fear, and the wolf, now angry, turned and bit the Cloaker again.

Kanatash, seeing the tide turning, tried to psionically attack the Cloaker, but it resisted his attack and changed to another moan, which caused Whitehearth and Pel to double over from stomach pain. Lysander charged the beast and swung his longsword into it, and Kanatash launched a bolt of electrical psionic energy, setting the Cloaker up for a killing stroke from Tock's armblade.

After this dangerous and draining battle, the Wolves decided to take a chance on resting inside this antechamber. Pel scouted the outside to look for other exits and didn't see any, and Lysander and Brand brought in Grilsha and Arenydee and tied them to one of the pillars, and then they all rested, with Brand and Whitehearth keeping watch. 8 hours later, they could see out the door that the sun had risen. They were refreshed, and unless Lucan had found a secret exit, he was now trapped inside the ziggurat.

Leaving the only sunlight in the ziggurat behind, the Wolves advanced up the stairs to a room Pel had scouted the night before. An altar hung in the center, suspended by heavy chains, and faded frescoes of demons adorned the walls. Pel searched the room for traps and found a lever on the back of the altar that would open a secret drawer. Before he pulled it, however, he noticed another mechanism, a trap that would activate a pit beneath the altar if the drawer was opened. Taking note of this room for possible strategic use later, the Wolves went upstairs to the next room.

The next room was formerly an animal sacrifice chamber, as evidenced by the large, stained stone table in the center of the room. Carved animal heads with emeralds for eyes adorned the walls, and next to the stone table stood one of the creatures that had performed the sacrifices eons ago, a Minotaur zombie that lifted its greataxe and charged.

Pel tried to turn the creature, but his spiritual powers were not enough. Fortunately, his roguish skills were intact, and he ducked under a mighty swing of the creature's greataxe. Lysander again launched into an inspiring song, but the Wolves were unable to enter the room, as the minotaur had now blocked easy access to everyone except Pel, who was already inside, and Tock, who stood at the door. Tock sliced a chunk out of the minotaur with his armblade, and Whitehearth and Brand decided to try and slip by. Whitehearth succeeded, but Brand was struck by the axe with a solid blow that sliced a gash down his back. However, he and Whitehearth both retaliated, doing only slight damage to the creature but tripping it and knocking it to the floor.

The beast resisted Kanatash's psionic attacks and shrugged off a glancing blow from Pel's scimitar as it pulled itself to its feet. This maneuver made it vulnerable, and Tock, Brand and Whitehearth managed to sneak in solid blows on the creature. Kanatash psionically convinced the creature it was still on the ground, causing it to try and stand up once more, and Pel, Brand and Whitehearth struck again, with the minotaur tripping and falling as a result.

The minotaur was now showing even more bone through its rotting flesh, but didn't show any signs of slowing down. It stood once more, and was struck again by Pel, Brand and Whitehearth. Lysander tumbled into the room as the minotaur swung its greataxe and slashed open Pel's chest. Rising from his tumble, Lysander swung his longsword into the beast and slashed away a great chunk of flesh from its midsection, revealing its spinal cord. The minotaur rose its greataxe to finish Pel off, and Pel swung his scimitar through the spinal cord, causing the zombie to drop, in two flopping halves, onto the floor, where it finally stopped moving.

In the wake of this battle with an undead creature, and with the battle with a vampire approaching, Tock infused his arm blade and Brand's shortsword with undead bane, while Lysander used the cure light wounds wand almost completely up healing the damage Pel and Brand had suffered during the combat.

Faced with stairways going up or down, the Wolves decided to descend. They emerged into a hall filled with statues of goblins and bugbears, and immediately feared they were facing a medusa, but were instead attacked by a pair of Gricks. The creatures shrugged off Pel's non-magical crossbow bolt and one of them bit Lysander deep in the shoulder as Tock slashed at the other one with his armblade. Kanatash ended the fight quickly with a bolt of electricity that destroyed both gricks utterly.

Continuing downward, the Wolves found themselves in a prayer chamber festooned with moldy tapestries and submerged in a foot of murky water. On the other side of the room was a large stone door with a crescent moon, and near the Wolves were a pair of kettle drums beating out a ceremonial rythym by means of a magically animted double mallet. Pel spotted a tentacle peeking out from one of the tapestries, and was able to warn the others as an Otyugh shuffled out into the water and charged.

Tock struck the creature, but was rewarded by a tentacle wrapping around him and squeezing. He broke free as the others moved in and dealt another vicious slash to the Otyugh. Pel blasted away with magic missiles as Brand slashed the thing with its shortsword and Lysander moved into position with his longsword. Whitehearth attacked, tripping the creature in a dirty, smelly splash of water, and Lysander moved in and finished it with a powerful stroke of his longsword.

Brand and Tock attempted to push open the crescent moon door, but found that it was heavy and quite stuck. While they tried to figure out what to do next, Pel searched and discovered a secret door leading to a vertical shaft heading upward. Lysander sang a song of inspiration as Brand ascended the shaft carrying a rope. At the top, about 100 feet up, he found a small ledge that he could stand on, and began pulling others up. He managed to pull Lysander up, and the two of them pulled Pel, and then they realized that there wasn't any more room.

Lysander pushed open the secret door next to the ledge and discovered a massive chamber, clearly located at the top of the ziggurat. The room was half-filled with sarcophagi beneath its 30-foot high vaulted ceiling. The other half of the room was filled by a 25-foot high bat-winged, ram-headed demon statue with a throne at its base. Lucan sat brooding on that throne, and he leaped to his feet as he sensed the door opening.

Lysander quickly turned invisible as Lucan ranted that he hadn't asked for any of this. "I didn't ask to become a vampire, I didn't ask to be enslaved by that thrice-damned blade... but I will die on my feet, or else be the death of all of you!"

Pel cast Protection from Evil on Brand as Lysander began moving invisibly toward the vampire. Brand drank a potion of cat's grace, and Lysander a potion of mage armor, as down below, Kanatash began levitating himself and Whitehearth up the shaft. As Lucan struck Brand with his fists, draining some of his life energy, Pel used his animate rope to tie the rope around the statue's legs, allowing Tock to begin his own climb up the shaft.

Brand swung his weapons and missed the agile vampire, but the invisible Lysander managed to blast him with a wand of cure light wounds. Lucan spun and backhanded Lysander's in response, draining some of his life energy as well. Lysander moved back and used his mage hand to draw the Soulblade from its sheath and bring it to his hand, where it immediately began to tempt him with promises of power. Brand took advantage of Lucan's surprise and anger at this maneuver to strike with both his rapier and his bane-infused shortsword, and the vampire's flesh sizzled and bled in response. Lysander, resisting the mental domination of the soulblade, drove it into the ground and left it there.

Pel drank his elixir of fire breath after failing to hide from undead with a scroll, and moved in towards Lucan as he ran 20' up the wall, away from further attack. Brand used his dragonmark to teleport next to Lucan and strike again with his weapons, landing on the floor. Lucan ran down the wall and struck Brand again angrily, but then Kanatash appeared at the secret door and launched a psionic fire missile which struck the wounded vampire and forced him into his gaseous form.

The gaseous cloud made its way toward the vertical shaft that Tock was still climbing, but Lysander used his dragonmark to create an image of a holy symbol in front of it, forcing Lucan to instead choose one of the sarcophagi in the room. He solidified, and the Wolves all closed in with their stakes, putting one into Lucan's heart to keep him immobilized. Their long journey was over. The soulblade was contained, and Lucan was captured.

XP: 2320

You die.

Randy equips +5 Wall of Text.
Randy attacks you.
Randy hits!
You die.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (4)

Rhaan 28 - Sypheros 1, YK 998

Part Five - Travel By Lightning Rail

The Wolves spent an hour or so investigating the fallen airships. They discovered no bodies that they believed to be Grilsha or Captain Rarwog, although in fairness plenty of the bodies were completely unrecognizable thanks to the spectacular crash. As they finished ransacking the wreckage, a patrol of soldiers, headed up by a Captain Vox, rode up to them out of Sterngate. They were shocked to learn that there had been any survivors, and the captain expressed an interest in hearing the Wolves' story of the attack and crash, but didn't seem suspicious of them. Lysander spun the tale, presenting them as humble travelers who had been onboard the Cloud's Destiny when it was attacked by the Emerald Claw. They had gotten aboard a skiff and escaped before the crash hit. He did not mention Lucan or the true identities of the Wolves.

When the Wolves got into Sterngate, they noticed that there was a lightning rail station, and that a train was currently docked there. Vox indicated that the train was heading north into Thrane in the morning, and given that there were no airship docks in town, the Wolves quickly deduced that this was the fastest way for Lucan to get north towards Karrnath. "Lucan will be aboard that train in the morning," Pel said with certainty.

With an overnight stay ahead of them and no easy way to find Lucan or Grilsha, the Wolves settled in to an inn and had meals and rest. Lysander performed for a small but appreciative crowd in the tavern part of the inn, and everyone took turns venturing into town to see if they could learn anything that might point to Lucan or his sister. They got only vague information, but it was enough to confirm their suspicions that Grilsha was alive, and that she and Lucan had made their way to town. They booked passage on the lightning rail to its next stop in Starilaskur, including a cargo cart passage for Whitehearth, who was put onboard overnight.

The next morning, when the Wolves went to board the train, they found that Lucan had left another surprise for them. Two dominated House Orien guards and a swarm of bats engaged the Wolves as the train began to power up to depart. The Wolves fought only briefly, quickly realizing it was to their advantage to avoid the fight and get onboard the train, which they did, with minor damage.

Once onboard, the Wolves went to work investigating. They were in a passenger coach with a family traveling to Thrane (evidenced by their Silver Flame medallions), a pair of gnomish businessman and an attractive elf woman. Brand and Kanatash headed back to the cargo coach to check on Whitehearth while Tock, Pel and Lysander moved forward to go to the lounge. The elven woman got up and said to the Orien steward that she wanted to go to the lounge as well. The steward unlocked the door allowing them access to the next coach, which also had a steward and a lock guarding it.

In the lounge car, the men found out that the woman's name was Yara, and that she was in "security" and a frequent traveler. The lounge was empty except for the Wolves and their new companion, save a bartender who offered them berry juice given the early hour. Lysander inquired about performing and put on an impressive performance, leading the bartender to hire him to perform at lunch and dinner in exchange for free food and drink. Lysander also played the rough draft of his chronicle in the making about the Wolves to an appreciate Yara. Yara insisted that Pel and Tock stay to hear the song as well, which seemed suspicious, but none of the men believed her to have an agenda, as she seemed just to be seeking attention and company.

Pel did test the security by moving into the next coach, but found himself blocked by a steward. He succeeded in getting into the next passenger coach by bluffing that he needed to use the nearest privy, but there was no one suspicious in the next cabin, and he was unable to easily investigate the private cabins or move much further into the train without arousing suspicion. Brand also informed them that the private coaches of House Orien contained a thin sheet of lead that would prevent Detect Undead and similar mystical means of locating Lucan. It seemed that they would have to bide their time and find the moment to unmask the vampire.

With direct investigation ruled out, Pel spent some time going through the papers he had discovered in Grilsha's room aboard the Cloud's Destiny. He found a half-finished scroll of dimension door as well as notes for her journal. The journal indicated that she knew that her brother had become a vampire, and had watched him murder and feed, but that he had told her he was seeking a cure for his condition in Karrnath. She was staying with him out of loyalty, and because she believed she could help her brother cure himself of his vampirism using the many necromantic secrets possessed by those in Karrnath.

When they arrived in Starilaskur, Kanatash mind-linked the Wolves, and they all went off, most of them following potential suspects who might be Lucan or Grilsha. None of these leads turned out to be anything, and the most successful three-hour layover was probably that of Lysander, who spent some time in a museum with the lovely Yara. She seemed to have a knowledge of sculpture and an appreciation of art, and had a bit of a kindred spirit with Lysander in many ways.

Three hours later, in the middle of the night as 28 Rhaan turned into 1 Sypheros, the train departed Starilaskur and began its long journey up into Vathirond, its last stop inside the borders of Breland. The Wolves mostly rested and slept on this leg of the journey, with Kanatash creating some psionic powerstones and Lysander spending his time getting to know Yara and entertaining passengers in the lounge car.

The stopover in Vathirond, taking place mid-morning on 1 Sypheros, saw most of the passengers disembark once more. No doubt the worshippers of the Silver Flame aboard went to find a local church celebrating the religious holiday of The Ascension, and others probably sought out a heartier breakfast than they could find aboard the train. Three hours later, the train headed out towards the city of Aruldusk, just inside the borders of Thrane.

As it turned out, the lightning rail was not going to make this destination. After about eight hours on the journey, well into the evening and well inside the borders of Thrane, there was an attack. Lysander was entertaining in the lounge, and Yara was there as she had been over the past two days. Brand was riding with Whitehearth in the cargo cart near the back, and the rest of the Wolves were relaxing and talking in their passenger cart.

Brand was the first to realize something was wrong, when the door to the cargo cart swung open and he saw a female identified warforged and four male warforged coming in. Tock had a clue as well, as he looked out the windows and saw a halfling fly by, mounted on a glidewing. Brand quickly retreated with Whitehearth back to the passenger cart, warning the others that the warforged were coming, and the battle was joined.

The warforged rushed into the cabin, one of them falling to the attacks of Brand, Whitehearth and Tock as he tried to bully his way through. The female, wielding a scimitar, called out "Weak flesh! Surrender the schema!" and then led her warforged in an attack. Kanatash's energy missile was loud enough to signal those in the lounge that something was going on, which is when Yara did something interesting. She moved forward, convinced the steward that they should all move away from the attack, and slipped into the next passenger cabin. Lysander, curious about her intentions, turned invisible and followed her.

As the warforged fell in battle to the Wolves, mostly doing little to no damage, Lysander watched Yara move up to the door of a private cabin and begin to pick the lock. She didn't get far, as the door opened and standing there was Lucan. "Arenydee," he said, surprised and clearly recognizing "Yara."

"Lucan, it's over," she replied. "Surrender." She drew her rapier and stepped back, bumping into Lysander. He whispered quietly who he was and that he was there to back her up. Seconds later, Grilsha, standing behind Lucan in the cabin, unleashed magic missiles that struck Arenydee.

The warforged were dispatched, save the leader, when Kanatash unleashed a powerful mind bolt that ripped through the female warforged. "Weak flesh, we will meet again" she growled, as she leaped over Whitehearth and off the train. The Wolves then began to wonder why Lysander hadn't come back to join them in the fight. They also wondered why the lightning rail had suddenly increased its speed.

Lysander had problems of his own, as he decided to throw his vial of holy water using the element of surprise, splashing Lucan and doing damage but also revealing his presence. Lucan responded by dominating Arenydee and setting her on Lysander.

The Wolves ran, one by one, through the lounge cart and into the passenger cart where the fight was taking place. While they were making the transition, the coach lurched to a sudden stop, throwing most of them to the ground or into the bulkheads.

Grilsha responded to these new attacks as she always had, by protecting her brother, firing off a Fly spell so that he could fly out of the cabin. Kanatash yelled after him that he believed Lucan was seeking a cure, and that they wanted to help him. "I know what your cure would be," he sneered and flew out of the train and into the wilderness. Before he fled, the Soul Blade launched a confusion effect that caught Lysander and Whitehearth.

Kanatash went outside onto the balcony and saw the halfling mercenaries flying away. He levitated over the train and saw Lucan, transformed into a dire wolf, running towards an ancient ziggurat in the distance. Then he went inside to help the others subdue Grilsha and Arenydee. Pel used his rope trick to entangle Grilsha, and though she tried to fool them by turning invisible, it didn't work, and Tock, Whitehearth (attacking in confusion), Brand and Kanatash managed to subdue both women, though not without some wounds to Brand and Whitehearth.

Curious as to what happened to stop the train, the Wolves moved forward and found the dead conductor along with the four Warforged who killed him. The Warforged moved to flee and the Wolves, realizing that they had a larger battle ahead, let them go.

Wounded and a little bit tired, the Wolves knew that their job wasn't done. They had to get to the ziggurat in the Thrane wilderness and track down Lucan once and for all.

XP: 1440

Eberron News

The following are "news items" from the world of Eberron, courtesy of the Wizards website. If I'm linking to them, you can assume that they have happened in our gameworld.

Currently, it is 2 Sypheros (an autumn month, equivalent to October) in our campaign.

*The Expeditionary Dispatch is two days away, by your characters' reckoning. This Dispatch and events surrounding the Expedition will be covered heavily in the Korranberg Chronicle. The Wayfinder Foundation sponsors two big expeditions each year, one in the fall and one in the spring, and they're always big deals.

*Nymm is a summer month, equivalent to July, and thus took place some months ago.

Expeditionary Dispatch 1: Zol, 4 Sypheros, 998 YK

Rivals Join Forces for Attainder Bill: Nymm 8, 998 YK

Upcoming Schedule - June/July

Here's the schedule as I see it for the rest of June and then July. Folks chime in if you need to schedule a weekend off, either by editing the post or commenting in the comments section. I'm estimating on how long it'll take to complete modules, it could wind up being a week earlier or later, but either way, it'll be the Eberron game.

June 16th - Eberron: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (Everyone in)
June 23rd - Eberron: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (Nate out)
June 30th - Game Off
July 7th - Eberron: Knight of the Silver Flame (Everyone in)
July 14th - Texas Hold'Em Game (regular gaming off)
July 21st - Randy at San Diego Con (gaming off)
July 28th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Everyone in?)

More Kalashtar

Here's a good writeup on Kalashtar and their enemies. (I think it's just an excerpt from the book, but since I don't have that at work...)

Anyway, it got me thinking. Good ol' Ultaash might be more complex than I originally conceived.

The kalashtar are a compound race: incorporeal entities from the alien plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams, merged with human bodies and spirits to form a distinct species.

Hmm. So I wonder, is it possible for the human spirit and the quori spirit to be in conflict? Is a Kalashtar ever "of two minds" about an issue... literally? I don't really want to play a pure lawful good character in this party, but there might be a lot of fun involved in having a lawful good quori spirit occupying a neutral evil (say) human host. On the other hand "schizophrenia" gets old quick. If we prefer a single-minded (hah!) character maybe I can switch to neutral good and not worry about it.

I didn't know during the last adventure that

Every kalashtar enters adulthood with a fundamental choice: try to live a normal life as a persecuted exile in Adar, or take up a more active role in combating the Inspired in the world.

which definitely puts a new spin on things.

Oh, and the name "Ultaa" came from an apparently legendary Kalashtari hero quoted in the book. Ultaash is fine. Though after reading this I kind of like Kanatash.

Also, I am prettier than you! :)

Ben

Eberron Adventure Journal: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (3)

Rhaan 27, YK 998

Part Four - Sky Raiders of Eberron

With no time to lose, the Wandering Wolves rushed to Docking Berth 3, atop an 80-foot docking tower where the Cloud's Destiny, a Lyrandar airship, was about to take off. When they reached the berth, they found their way blocked by gnomish warriors, clearly dominated by Lucan into slowing their progress. The airship was in the process of casting off, and the crew showed no interest in the Wolves' shouted pleas to hold the ship.

Pel managed to sprint past the gnomes, leaping aboard the ship to begin arguing with the ship's hostile captain that he should hold the departure. In the meantime, the rest of the Wolves did battle with the gnomes. The gnomes were skilled warriors who had been given orders to delay, and they managed to hold the Wolves at bay long enough for the Cloud's Destiny to begin casting off.

Finally, William rushed past the gnomes that had not been killed, and was nearing the 5-foot jump between the docking berth and the airship. The last remaining gnome, in a desperation move, charged at William and, catching him at an off-guard moment, managed to hit him in the legs and push him off the platform. William reached his arms out and tried to catch the two other berths beneath, but his heavy armor and no doubt surprise at being caught so off-guard made him miss, and he instead impacted heavily and fatally on the ground below.

The gnome that killed William enjoyed his victory for less than a second, as Lysander put an arrow through his neck, killing him instantly. The rest of the gnomes were also dealt with fairly quickly, but not quick enough to stop the Cloud's Destiny, which was now at least a hundred feet away from the berth. The rest of the Wolves watched, their hearts sinking, as Lucan got away again, this time with Pel stranded on the same airship.

Mere moments later, another airship appeared at the berth. It was beaten up, with gouges along the hull and a broken shaft at the tip of the prow, and its faded paint identified it as the Jade Fury. It's captain, a roguish looking half-elf named Captain Rarwog, bid the characters to leap aboard. They did so, and were informed that the ambassador had experienced a change of heart and engaged Rarwog's services to help them if they were unable to catch the Cloud's Destiny.

Though the Jade Fury had moved in quickly, the Cloud's Destiny was faster and had gotten a head start. It took a little over a day for the Wolves to catch up with their comrade aboard the Cloud's Destiny.

During that time, Pel shapechanged and changed clothes and did some investigation aboard the Cloud's Destiny, looking for Lucan or his sister. He disguised himself as a cook during the breakfast and tried to lure passengers out of their cabins to identify Grilsha or Lucan if he could. He also checked the storage lockers, discovering that one was an extradimensional space similar to a bag of holding, but despite casting a Detect Undead spell, was unable to locate Lucan or Grilsha. During an evening meal, he did encounter a Kalashtar named Kanatash. The two men bonded quickly, and Pel decided to engage the psion's help in his quest for Lucan.

Meanwhile, aboard the Jade Fury, the Wolves mostly kept to their cabins. They did have a visit from Rarwog, who exchanged stories and tales about Xen'drik and recognized the Wolves (or so he said) from their story in the Korranberg Chronicle. Brand offered up some vague stories, but he still managed to let a few details slip to the curious Rarwog. As it would turn out later, Rarwog's curiosity was anything but academic.

It was late at night when the Jade Fury came upon the Cloud's Destiny. A human crewman that the Wolves hadn't seen before knocked on their door and bade them to follow. He took them to an air skiff, which he and another crewman piloted, floating down towards the unsuspecting Cloud's Destiny below.

About this time is when all hell broke loose. One of the Wolves chanced to look up and saw hatches open in the hull of the Jade Fury, disgorging four skiffs filled with Emerald Claw soldiers. Brand noticed that the two crewman were piloting their skiff away from the Cloud's Destiny, not toward it. He rushed up and landed two serious blows on the crewman, and Lysander finished one of them off while Tock menaced the other with his arm blade. "Take us to the Cloud's Destiny," he ordered. The fanatical Emerald Claw soldier offered up a "Take yourself" before leaping off the skiff to his death.

Aboard the Cloud's Destiny, one of the crew members spotted the incoming skiffs and sounded the alarm. The captain declared battle stations, and told passengers to get below decks. Pel and Kanatash ignored these orders and headed up instead. Meanwhile, Brand managed to figure out how to pilot the skiff, and headed it back toward the Cloud's Destiny.

The battle was joined, with archers on one skiff firing onto the deck as the other three skiffs landed and provided a staging platform for about twenty Emerald Claw soldiers. The half-elf captain and his crew fought bravely, but they were no match for the soldiers, and most of them perished during the fight.

Fortunately, the Wandering Wolves were well-equipped and prepared to handle the Emerald Claw. Kanatash unleashed psychic missiles of electricity that blasted through groups of them, Tock tested his new arm blade in battle and Brand took up the slack in the warrior role recently vacated by William. Pel and Lysander, meanwhile, used potions of invisibility to move around and follow the Emerald Claw as they rushed below decks and began bashing open lockers, looking for something... or someone.

Pel was back on the deck, with Lysander still below, when Lucan emerged from his hiding place in the extradimensional locker and misted up onto the deck. He took one look at what was going on and, enduring a psychic attack from Kanatash, transformed into mist once again and floated away from the ship.

As it turned out, Lucan's departure was none too soon. None of the Wolves had looked up and noticed until it was too late, but the captain of the Jade Fury had seen that his forces were losing and launched a desperation gambit. The Jade Fury crashed into Cloud's Destiny, wood buckling and metal screaming as the ships collided and became one. The air and fire elementals powering the ship loosed themselves and began warring amidst the falling wreckage.

With no time to lose, Brand and the rest of the Wolves on deck jumped into a skiff and took off. They waited as long as they could for Lysander, but they were unable to hold out and had to take off without him. They floated off away from the spectacular crash, and then went back to land, expecting to find the corpse of another friend.

Instead, Lysander emerged, having taken refuge in the extradimensional locker during the crash. The Wolves being mercenaries at heart, they took the time to search the locker for a few bits of treasure and then looked off at the distance to the Brelish fortress town of Sterngate. Clearly, this was their next destination.

XP: 800

Eberron Character: Kanatash

Name: Kanatash
Race: Kalashtar
Class: Psion 7
Experience: 21097
Alignment: Lawful Good
Religion: Path of Light
Homeland: Adar
Age: 34 Height: 6'0" Weight: 165 lbs.

Statistics: STR 13, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 17, WIS 14, CHA 14, BAB +3, Fort +2 (+6), Ref +2 (+5), Will +5 (+8), Init +2 (+2), AC 14 (+2 Dex, +1 armor, +1 deflection), HP 44

Skills: Autohypnosis +10 (+14), Concentration +10 (+13), Knowledge (Psionics) +6 (+11), Knowledge (Geography) +5 (+8), Knowledge (History) +5 (+8), Knowledge (The Planes) +2 (+5), Psicraft +10 (+15)

Psionic Power Points: 63

Psionic Powers (Psychokinesis): 1 - Bolt, Control Object, Deja Vu, Force Screen, Mind Thrust; 2 - Concussion Blast, Energy Missile, Levitate (Psionic), Recall Agony; 3 - Danger Sense, Dispel Psionics, Energy Wall, Time Hop

Racial Abilities: +2 on saving throws vs. mind-affecting spells & abilities and possession, +2 on Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate, +2 on Disguise checks to impersonate a human, immune to dream/nightmare spells, naturally psionic, mindlink 1/day
Weapons/Attacks: +5 (1d6+1, Masterwork Quarterstaff), +6 (1d8, Masterwork Light Crossbow w/50 bolts)

Equipment:

(1) Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Dorje of Vigor (48 charges), Dorje of Energy Ray (47 charges), +1 bracers of armor, +1 ring of protection, backpack, 2 weeks trail rations, waterskin, dagger, 50' silk rope, 1450 gp, pouch of gems worth 2500 gp

Feats: Overchannel, Psionic Meditation, Speed of Thought, Imprint Stone, Psychic Rush
Proficiencies: Club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, quarterstaff, shortspear
Languages: Common, Draconic, Gnomish, Quor, Riedran

History: Very little is yet known of the Kalashtar known as Kanatash. He met Pel aboard the Cloud's Destiny, and decided to join the Wandering Wolves in their pursuit of Lucan and the Soul Blade.

Not Appearing in This Picture

Well, June 2 is my 17th anniversary so.....

Needless to say, I will be with my lovely wife. Next time, I hope.