Whisper of the Vampire's Blade [Eberron]

[Deadguy]

Well, my group are now at the point where the next logical step in their Eberron adventure is Whispers. But I know that others have said that it doesn't feel like it fits into the general flow of the Forgotten Forge storyline.

So has anyone done any work they'd care to share to fit the adventure more closely into that storyline?

And does anyone have any advice for how to run the adventure?

 

[Klaus]

I already posted my sugestion for re-adapting the adventure, but here's qhat I can remember of it:

It's all smoke and mirrors.

The old Dark Lantern that hires the PCs is Garrow in disguise. Lukas is a bait for the PCs, as the Emerald Claw wants to know how much they know about the Schema. Garrow, who always wanted to be a vampire and sees the PCs as the key to his undead glory, is ordered to help the PCs along the way (as Rorwag) to earn their trust and learn what they know. But Garrow is seething with jealousy for the recently-turned Lukas. So after he dispatches the PCs to board the airship, he loses it and rams both airships together (if he can't have them, no one will, and certainly not Lukas).

Unaware of Garrow's botch, Lukas, after the crash, proceeds to the place where the PCs were supposed to be overrun by Emerald Claw troops: the ziggurat. But his reinforcements (Garrow and his men) never arrive. Feeling betrayed by the Emerald Claw, Lukas makes a last stand.

Meanwhile, Garrow meets Scimitar (after her attack on the PCs, which has been brewing since they defeated Saber in The Forgotten Forge). He sees in the warforged the perfect ally to bring down the PCs and recover the schema, restoring his standing with the Emerald Claw.

 

[MarkB]

I managed to tie it in fairly directly.

SPOILERS follow.






In my version, Lucan had, before his downfall, been involved in investigating the events surrounding Lady Elaydren's recovery of the first and second schemas. He interviewed her directly, found out about the involvement of the Order of the Emerald Claw, but ultimately decided this was a matter for House Cannith to police, not a concern for Brelish security.

Cut to when he's taken over by the intelligent sword, and it learns from his memories about the schemas, and that they're prized by the Order of the Emerald Claw, who are supposedly Karrnathi loyalists. Therefore these schemas must be of value to Karrnath, and it would be worth recovering one if the opportunity arises.

At around this time, an auction is being organised of the effects of a recently-deceased adventurer, and these effects include one of the schemas. The party read about this auction in the Sharn Inquisitive and recognise the schema, shortly before receiving a message from Lady Elaydren asking them to meet her at the auction house on the night of the auction.

The adventure opens in the auction house, at the top of one of the towers in the more opulent areas of Sharn, around two hours after sunset. The party get seats near the back, and watch (or participate if they like) as Lady Elaydren, seated near the front, bids upon the schema. Things go smoothly enough until a tall gentleman in the front row asks to examine the schema. As soon as he gets his hands on it, he knocks the auction house officials aside and leaps out of a tall window in the nearest wall. If the party hurry, they can just manage to catch a glimpse of him striding down the side of the tower before the bat swarms arrive to cover his escape and combat begins.

After the dust settles, Lady Elaydren tells them that she recognises the man as Lucan, a member of the Dark Lanterns, and offers them a reward to recover the schema for her. She sends them to see Viorr Maelak, head of the Dark Lanterns, and from there the adventure proceeds as written, except that when they finally capture or kill Lucan, they find the schema sewn into the fabric of his jacket.

 

[Deadguy]

I just wanted to say those a both very good ideas. As one of my PCs is a (distant) nephew to Baron Merrix, and another a Deneith heir who aspires to becoming an Inquisitive, I really want to make the mystery flow.

Still the more ideas the better!

 

[Crothian]

I thought it worked fine as is. Not everything needs to connect so heavily.

 

[megamania]

I skipped it and built up the adventure in different ways. I am still doing a campaign of the Creation Schema but we are now 13-15th level and still going. I have built up the Schema's power and had the group investigate / research and retrieve each of the six pieces. With so many groups also trying to get it has been a blast. Several pieces have switched hands many times.

Currently, a dwarf known as Kim Elderich (world's richest dwarf and possibly person on Eberron) has all six. He is about to head to Xen'drik to assemble them. In a strange SCI-FI manner, I am about to show the PCs what the Schema is how powerful it is.

It is intelligent and an artifact. It can possess / control constructs at will. Soon the Lord of Blades will be eating crow and asking for help to stop the now out of control Xulo / C Schema.


After defeating the Schema, they then will need to destroy each piece ala the rules of destroying artifacts. They will be traveling through dimensions and performing crazy stuff to destroy the Schema forever.

Back to your first question- Maybe Lucus knows where some of the pieces are and the group are hired to find him to get the info by Lady Elaydren. Unknown to her (and the PCs) he has been turned and now goes AWOL.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I agree with Crothain.. I liked the fact that the adventure was *not* tied to the main story arc.

Of course one of my pet peeves is campaigns where the main plot line is the only game in town.

One of my concerns with the entire series is that it is basically a whirlwind expose on Eberron...which could be a good thing. The not so good thing is the amount of stuff they tried to cram into it.. Whispers being one of the most bloated

 

[Crothian]

I think it was fun. As a player, I'm usually bad going through modules becasue I relaly like to just find something and go do it and its rarely what the module had in mind. So, I had to really mentally buy into the aspect of playing in a game that was all mosuldes. Once I did that the flow of them has been fun. I like the pulp aspects to the module; whispers is major pulpy goodness.

 

[MarkB]

One of my concerns with the entire series is that it is basically a whirlwind expose on Eberron...which could be a good thing. The not so good thing is the amount of stuff they tried to cram into it.. Whispers being one of the most bloated

What put me off when DMing Whispers was that it's essentially one long chase sequence, and if the players ever manage to out-think the writer and actually catch Lucan, it basically ends right there. And if they don't, it's one long set of frustrations as he cunningly slips away again... and again... and again.

When I ran it, by the time the players got to the airship sequence, it was looking like we'd have to switch games in a few weeks (I was running it at our local club), and in the end, I left out the lightning rail sequence completely - and I don't think I or my players missed it one bit.

 

[Deadguy]

I understand your point Crothian - and a good DM must be prepared to flex a little to keep the players interested. I'm lucky that my players - recognising that I'm running a module - will try and co-operate in exploring the module. It's the quid pro quo for getting a game.

The repetitiveness of failure in the chase is - however - something I am going to have to watch out for. We play fairly slowly, and at best only every 2 weeks, so that might get a bit demoralising.