(Eberron) Legacies - Updated 15 June

[Shieldhaven]

I'm entertained enough by some of the other Story Hours that I've read that I decided to post my character's journal entries from an Eberron campaign entitled Legacies.

I may also post some tangential commentary on what was going on outside of my character's perception. Since this is not evident from the journal, my character is Teagen Allister d'Cannith, a transmuter. The campaign started at third level, and we have yet to reach fourth.

Enjoy!

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So we’ve managed narrowly to escape death at the hands of Dhakaani extremists. We were in the undercity of Sharn searching for a handaxe that is an important symbol for those lunatics. It was a pretty standard sort of test, should have been easy.

We got down there and everything was dark. We used sunrods to light the chamber up a bit – apparently a market square, however long ago. I should check on more precise dating, though I rather doubt it will be useful in the strictest sense.
(human ruins circa 1000 yrs ago Dhakaani empire 17k-6k yrs ago)
We fought some things that the Tharashk man called horrid rats, and I suppose that name is valid. It’s not every day that you run into rats with fangs that drip acid. I got stupid and wasted my one prepared Scorching Ray on one of them. Little did I know at the time that we would soon have much bigger problems. Similarly, I wasted the Feline Grace – well, I suppose it was appreciated, but still we would have been better served to have had it later. At least my Armor of the Eldritch Forge was still active later on. I should learn a few more spells of longer duration, or I should study the ways of lengthening the duration of the spells I already have.

Once the horrid rats were hacked to bits – never overlook the utility of an axe – we searched through one of the buildings and found the handaxe we were seeking. We were poking through other buildings when the Dhakaani arrived to claim the axe. We considered handing it over, as that would have saved us a lot of pain, but the changeling got mouthy and we definitely reached a point of no return. In the future, someone with less of a barbed tongue ought to do the talking. Important lesson there. We were doing reasonably well, even though we burned through much of one healing wand and a decent portion of my wand of arcane bolts, but eventually their remarkably superior numbers put us in a position such that we had to choose between the death of one of our number or keeping the axe. We surrendered the axe. I do not regret this decision in the least; while I was willing to fight and risk injury to keep the axe from falling into their hands, I was not willing to consign a comrade to death when there was not even a passing likelihood of returning him to life. Our task now ought to be the recovery of this axe and the dissolution of any warbands of Dhakaani in Sharn.

Some questions that remain:
At what point did the Dhakaani scouts pick us up? Is there a significant information leak within Morgrave University? Where is their base within the city? If we can figure out where the Dhakaani get their information, can we in turn feed them bad intelligence and lure them into a trap? How much trouble will we be in with the University? Why didn’t they get the axe the day before, instead of waiting for us to come along?

Dhakaani relics were fashionable in early Galifar era.
Upper nobility/upper dragonmarked were the only ones to possess relics on this level.
Dhakaani made heavy use of weaponry. Bladed weapons were more used in religions-type ceremonies. Hafted (axe, etc.) tended to be used in civic ceremonies. Swords fell out of vogue in the later empire due to the rise of the orc druids. This axes seems to have been used as a symbol of authority over an area. Axe – scepter.

 

[Shieldhaven]

Our escape from death was not this time quite so narrow, though we were still in remarkable danger. We spoke with Dean Harrison about our failure in the Undercity and discussed the necessary political maneuvering that would give us another shot at recovering the axe. He eventually mentioned that the son of the maid of a cousin of a relevant person had gone missing in the forest not far outside of Sharn, and rescuing this child might put the right people in our debt to have certain powerful divinations performed. We got a description of the boy, which I included above.

Gerron – that’s the proper name of the d’Tharashk man I mentioned in the previous entry – found the boy’s tracks. We followed them, noting that eventually a creature called an ettercap followed the boy, who did not seem alarmed by the prospect of an ettercap. As I have encountered one of these creatures since then, I can say with confidence that such beasts are indeed highly alarming.

The tracks led us to a glade deep within the forest, where we saw several bodies wrapped in webs like burial shrouds. Monstrously huge spiders emerged from hiding and attacked Fel when he attempted to free one of them. We fought several of these spiders, some of which were nearly human-sized, as well as the ettercap. I used several more charges from my wand; I need to either plan to buy a new wand, or expand my magical capacity remarkably. Or both.

At least this time I did not waste my most powerful spells on insignificant targets. I am still having major problems with the accuracy of my Scorching Ray. Since I was busy attacking with my wand, I did not use many of my other prepared spells, except for my standard magical defenses. We were eventually victorious, though not without difficulty, and discovered a few gems – including, fortuitously, a pearl of the necessary quality – among the ettercap’s gathered belongings. Fel cut the people out of their webs. They were all still alive, amazingly. We got the three people back to the city, taking two to the House Jorasco healers and Kelvin directly to Dean Harrison.


Some questions that remain:
Why did Kelvin remain calm while the ettercap followed him? Did this ettercap have a heretofore-unknown capacity for mind control? Was the boy delirious? Is the Dean being entirely honest? What possible reason would he have not to be so? Will the Dean’s intended chain of favors work out properly?

 

[Shieldhaven]

I can hardly pretend that our most recent task represented any sort of brush with death, unlike the first and second incidents. Dean Harrison informed us that there had been some very disturbing goings-on at the Lyrandar house in the two days following Kelvin’s return. It had been reported as a haunting of some sort. We went to the house to investigate and spoke at length with Kelvin’s mother. She described two apparitions to us. These descriptions are in my notes, above.

After speaking with her, we spent quite a great deal of time batting around theories and consulting with experts. We had the better part of a day to do so, since we had promised to come back to the Lyrandar household later that night to observe. One of the favored theories from our discussion was that the “apparitions” were indicative of awakening psychic talent in Kelvin. Maeve has a friend in the University who specializes in psychic studies; he gave me a scroll of Sense Psychic Ties that would prove vital to our investigation.

So we went to the house late that night and prepared for a long night watch. Mercifully, it was still early in the night when we saw the two apparitions manifest out of thin air. Gerron and Fel immediately engaged them while Maeve and I stood back and used our spells of divination. She cast Sense the Corrupted Heart. It took some time for our perceptions of the apparitions to come into focus, but she immediately determined that they were not of an evil nature, but that something of evil was indeed nearby. I determined just as quickly that they were without a doubt psychically inclined. Gerron and Fel seemed to be in so very little danger that we stayed back and continued to focus our concentration.

Then a woman burst out of a room farther down the hall, screaming. A creature that Gerron identified as a “fear” – though I think it’s spelled differently – emerged after her. Once again we were engaged in combat, and once again we were easily victorious. Undisturbed by this, I turned my attention to Kelvin’s room and ascertained that he does, indeed, have psychic ability. I roused Kelvin’s mother from her bed and informed her of the situation. Kelvin will be coming to the University for training in the mysteries of his own mind.

Some questions that remain:
Will Kelvin have difficulty adjusting to his life away from his mother? Was his psychic awakening caused by his time in the clutches of the ettercap? Will there be other barriers to our efforts to persuade the right people to perform a divination for us? Does Dean Harrison really not have the resources to command another divination? Or is it not as important to him as he pretends? Or is he gaining other political benefits from our efforts and thus finding it profitable to stymie us?

 

[dravot]

Nice start. I'm looking through Eberron materials for a possible alternate campaign for nights when we can't play our main campaign, so any other materials and ideas are always useful.

The first posting was a bit confusing to me, though...at first I thought that youse guys had been hired by the Dhakaani, not by the university.

 

[Shieldhaven]

Yeah, that's definitely the problem with the journal style. The character's journal doesn't include things that he takes for granted... like being a TA at Morgrave University, or Maeve (the cleric) being a graduate student there. I don't think he's yet mentioned that he's part of House Cannith, either - though you might have picked that up from his name in the Introduction. And he doesn't know about some of the (vastly amusing) things the other PCs have done - like when the changeling was trying to stir up anti-goblin riots in bars in the Lower City.

 

[Shieldhaven]

It's been a long while since I've posted. This is actually two sessions rolled into one entry. Also, I had to leave the last session a little early, so I missed the part in which we identified the sword.

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Our labors since my last entry have been… indirect. The Dean informed us that all of the arrangements had been made for the divination we have endeavored to earn. Fel went to receive it, and found himself in the shop of an old fortune-teller. She told him that the axe is in the mountains of Droaam. It is a key of some kind. There is a woman of some sort watching us and taking no action. The fortune-teller anticipated Fel’s arrival and recognized him as a changeling.

But when Fel returned to tell the Dean of this, he said that he had no idea who this old woman was, and we were supposed to have gone to speak with Brother Jared in Cogswatch. I really wonder, in hindsight, where Fel got the bad information that led him to what may or may not have been an accurate divination. Brother Jared told him that the axe has been taken to where it can be used as a symbol of authority. If we chase after it, we will go one way and then the other. It will pass through our hands & through our fingers. If we do not seek it, it will be used to open a door that should be kept closed. It is currently in the City. There exists a prophecy of doing a great good that is turned into a great danger.

When we told him of this second divination, Dean Harrison told us of a tavern in Lower Dura called the One Way. We took a skysled down there – the sled’s handler was sufficiently amused by us that he declined to charge us. He dropped us off not too far from there, more or less in the thick of the goblinoid crowd. None of us felt too great about that, but we were shy on options so we took a seat not far from the center of the room and ordered beer. Maeve ordered some rather mysterious red-tinted beer – I think it had some kind of really godawful spice in it. After a few moments of studiously avoiding our beer, Gerron used the power of his dragonmark to reach out for the axe. We were all surprised when he said that it was in the next building over.

Fel examined the building. It was inhabited by a family of goblins. We were debating how to go about getting the axe from inside the house when a spell of Farspeaking brought words to our ears. The voice offered to help us get inside the building, for a price, and instructed us to go back to the tavern. A hobgoblin approached us inside. He called himself “Dark” and offered to get the axe for us if we would do him a favor. I insisted that the favor be named before we agreed to it, so he told us the story of his brother, who was ambushed and robbed by halflings. Dark wanted to recover his brother’s greatsword, preferably by violence. I pulled Gerron aside for a moment to debate this, but it soon became clear that I was the only one who felt exceptional qualms about acting quite so far outside the law. We were without further recourse, however; robbing a house full of goblins in a goblin-choked section of the city is definitely not better. So we got directions to the halflings’ warehouse. Dark described the greatsword as being made of a purple-red metal.

We did initially try to negotiate. On Maeve’s suggestion, we put ourselves forward as the relatives of an eccentric uncle who enjoyed collecting swords, and had heard of this one very impressive one. Once we persuaded the halflings to let us see the greatsword that we purportedly wished to purchase, they brought us inside the building, into a small waiting-room. It took four of them to bring the sword in, as it was apparently sized for an ogre. An inscription on the blade was translated to read: “What is bound may sleep forever.” They wanted more than twice as much money as we could possibly gather (at least, without going to ask the Baron d’Cannith for a massive loan). So we jumped them.

It was not an easy fight. I caused Gerron to grow large enough to wield the greatsword, then looked to my own defense. Maeve was in trouble immediately, as she was surrounded by enemies. Fel did what he could in the fight, but the halflings outnumbered us. Eventually Gerron’s massive and improved strength cut them all down, save for the one that fled from the room to alert the rest of his comrades. We beat a hasty retreat with sword in hand, though still more halflings attacked us on the way out. I was badly wounded by time we made good our escape. I did manage to snatch up a few of the leader’s belongings on my way out.

Questions that remain:
What is Dark’s real name and agenda? What does the sword really do? Will the halflings seek to retaliate against us? Were they part of any sort of hierarchy? Will Dark actually hold up his end of the bargain? Will word of our actions get out and come back to haunt us? What does the inscription on the blade mean? Was there some other, better way in which we could have handled all of this?

 

[Shieldhaven]

I only have time for a few notes, and writing here is difficult anyway. We – Maeve, Gerron, and I – are on a skysled back up to the University. We can only pray that that Fel will manage to meet us there.

We went back down to the One Way in Lower Dura to meet back up with Dark. We drank – well, okay, we bought – more of that fire-beer. Maeve nearly seems to have developed a taste for the stuff, which I rate several steps below “swill.” We had a terribly interesting time getting a ten-foot-long sword in there; after a number of comically hare-brained schemes, we settled on wrapping it up in bed sheets and rope. Dark showed up and we negotiated a private, non-ambush-laden meeting-place. I named, at random, “three alleys down, on the other side of the street.” Wrong bloody alley. Fel bullied a couple of goblins into leaving that alley while we conducted business with Dark. The sword vanished as soon as it was in his hand. When the goblins showed back up with their hobgoblin and bugbear pals, Dark pulled a second vanishing act on himself. He didn’t actually leave, though, as he put several of our enemies to sleep with a spell when the battle started to go badly for us. I managed to make myself useful, between two Scorching Rays and a few arcane bolts. At the same time that my spell capacity improved, I took a hard look at which spells I was using and which were wasted power. I now have even more of my power invested in the magics of evocation – perhaps odd, given that I am a transmuter. Maybe once we’re done with all of this I can look into researching some battle spells of transmutation that would actually be useful.

Anyway, once we defeated the goblinoid thugs, Fel requested the handaxe from me. Not really thinking about it, I gave it to him. He suddenly changed into a female dwarf and she ran out into the street. Of Lower Dura. With a reasonably recognizable ceremonial Dhakaani handaxe. We could not follow Fel through the crowd – couldn’t even see her – so we hurried to find another skysled. Gerron is furious, of course. We’re almost there. I just want to wash my hands of the axe.

Some questions that remain:
Is Fel trying to get himself killed, or is this pure serendipity? What’s Dark’s real agenda? What else will get in our way between here and the Dean’s office?


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The session actually continued beyond the end of this journal entry. We arrived at Morgrave University, found Fel, and Gerron took a swing at him. Then Gerron and I - mainly Gerron - castigated Fel for about half an hour. The GM stopped the session before we could take the axe to the Dean.

Also, we determined that the glasses we got off the halfling were spectacles of arcane sight, valued at something like 10k gold pieces. At the moment, we're working on how to unload them; having Teagen sell them to his family (who made them in the first place) is our best plan yet.

 

[megamania]

Its a good start. Keep it up.

 

[Shieldhaven]

So we arrived safely in the Dean’s office, though not without some delay and more paranoia than I can shake a stick at. I think Fel is starting to rub off on us – but really, it’s hard to overlook Dire Prophecy That Insists We’re Going to Muck This Up. Our mood at the time was entirely based around getting the axe out of our hands and into the Dean’s; in hindsight I think this may have been something of an error.

Anyway, we waited for him to get out of a conversation with one of the professors, and then we went in. He seemed reluctant to touch the axe, and we placed it in something that I would venture to guess is a Lirimund’s Secret Chest. We then requested a new assignment, and after a moment’s thought he produced one for which all of the arrangements had – presumably – been previously made. There is a rather rare eclipse coming up in the next few days, and he asked that we go to the Eldeen Reaches to observe it. None of us are the least bit trained in astronomy or astrology, so Maeve and I did extensive historical research on the phenomenon and its possible sociomystical underpinnings. We had only a few hours of work, and I was not able to pin down with any certainty the house with which this moon is aligned – either Phiarlan/Thuranni or Lyrandar. Its last eclipse was two years ago. Some think that this foretold the creation of the Mournland. It went into eclipse rather often during the Last War. Its last major eclipse was shortly after the start of the Last War. The moon is connected to Mabar, the Endless Night – okay, the connection to Phiarlan/Thuranni is pretty hard to miss here. It will be going into eclipse at 1 a.m. Maeve did manage to find a skilled astronomer to advise us at some length. She tried to get him added to our group, but she was unsuccessful.

Before we left, I sent a letter off to my cousing Manarix d'Cannith inquiring about the possibility of selling the spectacles. I hope that a favorable reply will have come by the time we return, whenever that may be.

So we boarded the lightning rail. At Passage, on the border between Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches, we met with Rae d’Orien who teleported us to our destination. It is at this point that I became truly horrified by the kind of expense that the Dean must have incurred to get us here. This also makes us suspicious – we four are the only people in Sharn other than the Dhakaani who know a damn thing about the axe, and the Dean just paid a whole hell of a lot of money to get us very far away, very fast, with no quick means of return. We were told that our return will be with House Vadalis rather than Orien. Darien d’Ghallanda, a fastieth rider, then met up with us and led us to the town of Greatwood. He knows more about our itinerary than we do. He also warned us about the Gloaming, apparently a very dangerous part of the forest. He was surprised that we were in the area for serious and scholarly purposes rather than

Our cabins were attacked in the night by troll zombies. We awoke in time to fight them – in fact, I had only just gone to bed. I had stayed up late working on some theory notes for new spell research possibilities. As usual, Gerron was incredibly deadly with his greataxe, though he took a number of wounds as he had not had time to don his armor. I did manage to burn the zombies reasonably well with my Scorching Rays. One of the fastieths took care of a zombie all by itself.

Some questions that remain-
Okay, I’m now convinced that we’re being deceived in some manner – but is it the Dean, or someone else? Will the sign of our betrayal come soon? Is this whole trip really just a diversion? What is the significance of the moon and its eclipse?

 

[Cedious]

nice start, im looking forward to reading more

i will be interested to see the other players perspectives of the Eberron world.

looking forward to your next posts