Adventure in the Open Skies: The Liralen Irregulars (Eberron, Updated 5/10)

[Micah]

Level 4 is the officers quarters (the largest room is Raviens) and the first passenger area - the tavern.

I figured no village would be complete without one and the ship is roughly the size of a small, compact village.

Besides it opens up the possibility for a nice brawl.

 

[Micah]

Level 5

Starting with the forward battle deck - armed similar to the aft battle deck - separated from the royal deck by a low wall (primarily to support the illusion that the deck is "private").

The foc'sle has the passenger dining area, connected to passenger quarters below and the tavern above by the grand stair. There is also a stage area for our entertainers.

The expedition room (a two story room) has a stair leading past the officers lounge and guest quarters to the captains suite. The circular stairwell in this area leads up to the officers quarters and down to the kitchen.

This seems to be a popular level - the only area that hasn't seen game time has been the battle deck - believe it or not. Eventually we'll remedy that.

 

[Micah]

Level 6

Not only my favorite, but also to see some action soon if I remember correctly.

The forward area houses the royal suite. One of the passageways up front leads from the battle deck down into the lower holds of the ship. It's just an accessway and has no entrance on this level. The royal suite comes complete with a small servant/bodyguards quarters that also has an accesway down into a private cargo area on the next level.

The main level passenger area is pretty self-explanatory. It might be noted by someone very observant that the walls in this area seem to have been built with the idea of being able to rearrange the spaces - take out walls - etc. by the removal of wooden pins.

The aft area of the ship starts out with the expedition room, cooks quarters, crew showers, kitchen, and griffon stables/launch deck. The stairwell in the kitchen goes up to the foyer by the captains dining area above and down to the crew dining below.

 

[Krafus]

Hello, there. I'm a long-time lurker who, on these holidays, has finally decided to come out of the shadows. Partly because this excellent story hour, for reasons I can't fathom, doesn't seem to be getting much traffic. So I want PhoenixAsh and Micah to know that there's at least one person who is reading and looking forward to more.

 

[Micah]

Hey thanks Krafus! I consider luring out lurkers to be a high compliment! PhoenixAsh has been doing a great job on the write-ups - they've been a ton of fun to read!

The next deck - Level 7

Starting forward is the Royal Hold - a cubbyhole of an area which is unique simply in the fact that it only has access from the Royal suite, and it's entrance is concealed. Hold 1 is here as well.

The middle of the ship is taken by passenger areas - the library/chapel we've nicknamed "the quiet room". A second deck of passenger suites are also here, although they are nowhere near as lavish or spacious as those on the deck above. Once again the walls in the passenger area are removable.

One of the goals I had as I designed the floorplans of the ship was to delineate areas that were meant for the passengers. Political intrigue and power struggles are a part of Eberron, so getting a larger stateroom actually comes into play (at least for the NPC's right now). There are a core of rooms around the grand stair through the ship that cater to those traveling aboard. There is definitely tension between the haves and the have-nots (whether it be in terms of money or power). There are several passengers currently aboard who have been shocked by the audacity of the crew in addressing them.

There is a small stair at the back of the passenger quarters that leads down to the ship office. Not used often by the passengers and even less often by the crew who prefer to use the forward ramp or the hatch in the battle deck.

And yes another ballistae deck - airship pirates beware!

Ironically followed by the ship hospice of which several PC's have seen a lot of.

Crew 7 houses most of our PC's. Audric officially has a small stateroom but spends time freely in the crew and passenger areas. Fortunato has quarters on the deck above, yet he does not need sleep and Meat (the headcook) tends to have a rather obnoxious snore, thus he too spends time here.

The stair separating the crew quarters from the crew dining leads up to the kitchen and ends on this floor.

Behind crew dining are animal pens (fresh meat and eggs, etc.). We went with steamer rules - the galley and livestock areas as far aft as possible. Wouldn't want anyone to catch a constant smell from those areas.

 

[Krafus]

I've just reread the SH, and realized that my favorite part is the 'friendly' (yeah, right) rivalry between Ruel and Kashandi. However, this has made me wonder: how will Ruel be able to compete with Kashandi at higher levels?

 

[Micah]

Well I do have some ideas there - but the future certainly isn't set in stone.

As an NPC Kashandi might not ever make it to higher levels. While I give my NPC's the ability to level - it doesn't mean that they will do so with the same speed as the PC's. Granted Shandi's competitve streak does grant her more xp than the average, just because she might be tempted to do stupid things like fighting skeletons

Bards aren't known for their damage resistance. The downside of some of those stupid decisions.

Shandi has a backstory and there is no guarantee that either she or the party will remain on board the Liralen for the duration.

Ruel's player has also indicated some interest in tying into the Creation myth of Eberron at higher levels - and I do have some ideas there as well.

Ideas aside - wizards aren't particularly known for their damage resistance either, and experienced bad guys are known to try and "take out the spell casters first".

Guess I'm not really at liberty to say a whole lot in this thread, and most of this is subject to probable change.


I can say that there have been some interesting and humorous Kashandi/Ruel developments in game - ones that I didn't foresee as a DM. Ruel's player had me scrambling mentally for an NPC reaction. I can safely hint that you should continue to enjoy the storyhour if the rivalry there has been your favorite part.

So keep pestering PhoenixAsh when he gets back for more updates! Feedback from readers is incredibly encouraging.

 

[Krafus]

So keep pestering PhoenixAsh when he gets back for more updates!

Heh heh, I will. Btw, do you plan on using the Liralen as the PCs' "home base," so to speak? You've said the PCs might not stay aboard for the duration, but even so, I can't think of a much cooler HQ than a flying ship (of course, this assumes they stay on friendly terms with House Lyrandar).

 

[tmaaas]

Heh heh, I will. Btw, do you plan on using the Liralen as the PCs' "home base," so to speak? You've said the PCs might not stay aboard for the duration, but even so, I can't think of a much cooler HQ than a flying ship (of course, this assumes they stay on friendly terms with House Lyrandar).

Well, I guess it's about time I joined this conversation. I'm the other half (well, more like a quarter; Micah pulls more than her fair share) of the DM team.

The Liralen is indeed a great "home base", especially from the DMs' perspective (it's very easy to pull characters in and out depending on who makes it to a session, for example). But it does have its drawbacks as well. In particular, the PCs have--at this point, anyways--very little control over where the ship goes and the adventures that come their way. This can lead to a feel of being "railroaded" instead of having real choices. We'll have to see how it goes; if the PCs choose to leave the ship as a group, we'll give them that freedom.

Since we're still in the beginning stages of the campaing, we're still making minor adjustments to the ship, crew, play style, etc. to enhance the overall fun and that Eberron feeling.

-- tmaaas

 

[Micah]

good to see you here tmaaas! and you're a little too kind. We both know that right now the combats I run are on the pathetic side. But I am working on that - someday my monsters will remember all of their attacks, and to add in their modifiers.


Ship level 8

Hold 2 (Our assassin's lair) has access to passageways that run the length of the forward ship. These are crew areas ans passengers would be - very out of place - to say the least if they were down here. The sparring room is one of the few places onboard where both crew and passengers have equal access. The type of passengers that frequent the area are either looking for a good challenge or training. Some never set foot here.

Beyond the sparring room is crew 8 where many of the NPC crew reside.

The artificer, Levic; and the purser/scribe, Oliver d'Sivis have housing in adjacent quarters. Levic carries no dragonmark, but seems to do just fine with repairing Fortunato, or the damage that the ship has taken in game. He also is adept at navigating the heaps of odds and ends that populate his quarters. Most everyone else avoids the area if they are in a hurry to pass through.

Oliver, on the other hand is immaculate. He tends the ship office and the sending stone located there. The area has several purposes - it is one that passengers have acess to and as such, Oliver has kept Levics desk of items for sale much neater than it would have normally been. It also allows access for both crew and passengers to the observation room down through the stairwell, and to the pinnace bay at the aft of this deck.

The pinnace bay was inspired by Disney's Treasure Planet. If you don't understand the map just refer to the movie. The Liralen has two small air powered "longboats" housed in this area. (Stacked on top of each other.)

The animal pens are in place, not because of the Star Trek look that they give, but because I couldn't figure out anything else to do with the way the picture in the campaign setting looked. Besides with a head-cook named Meat we really can't go wrong with more possible entrees hanging around down here.