Dead end as DM

[RUMBLETiGER]

Oh... so you need the item stolen, but not by the patron.
There is a master figure behind the scenes who doesn't care?
I'm not fully up to speed on Eberron culture and political intrigue, But I'd imagine there are are few options.
-Espionage upon the father's noble house, this has been well suggested.
-Hire a thief, this has been well suggested.
-Kill the father/raze his household. Send in some form of assault, from single assassin/thief to a mercenary troop. The Patron's Master is angry that the PCs did not stick to the bargain, he will make then pay by killing the father and/or burning his house to the ground. He can blame it on another house to redirect the PC's to another faction, while the patron knows his master was responsible. Add a few extra layers of relational plot tension.
-Have the Master approach the Father directly. I don't know who the Master is but if he's in any position of political power, he might be able to negotiate for the item diplomatically.

 

[was]

..Every noble house has 'trusted' servants. It would be very hard to keep any item totally secret from them. Perhaps the father mentioned it to a trusted seneschal/butler...etc..
..The servants could be disgruntled/greedy and steal the item for the proper incentive/money.

...or perhaps an attack from a rival house where the raiders pillage the item, and other valuables, before being driven back or burning down the house

...or maybe the item is sentient and simply takes control of the father, or a servant, and wanders off into the world to create havoc.
........This could be used to turn the father into a major bad guy/foe and create some interesting roleplaying down the line. Is the pc able to rescue the father from the item or must he hunt him down and slay him?

 

[Dreiko]

I really appreciate you advice and help people, thank you all for the help you provide.


I read through everything and I realised that I could not give the facts as they are, so I drove the path away.


I will make a sum up of the clues - and add some new ones - in one post:


- The PCs do not belong to this timeline.


We started the story in custom world with another DM. After the 1st session, I picked it up to continue the scenario. I found a way to play in Eberron. The story started with the PCs exploring an old ruined village - located in the version of Eberron that Sharn was not the city of Tower (the previous custom world) were a lonely artificer was having experiments for time travel, in order to go back and save his wife. After some flash backs - the PCs were seeing the village as it was 20 years before and vice versa - the "travel machine" was destroyed, locking them in an alternate timeline, where the machine never existed. That's the Eberron as it is now.


- The first person the PCs met is their current patron.


The PCs made their way to Sharn as it was the nearest city they could see - that was their birthcity in their real timeline - and they got in trouble. That's when they started to do a digging and, trying to find a way to go back to their timeline, met their patron. He is a kind young man, and is trustworthy and I want him to like the PCs.


- The player's father is NOT his real father


The Object X is now safe in the hands of a player's alternate father from this timeline, who happened to have lost his son (the player) and his wife during the birth. So, after the explanations, the father met the son he never had, so it's kinda cheesy to use the father as traitor. At the moment at least.


- The Object X is important and dangerous, and 3 organizations are after it.


Only the Master of the kind patron is aware of what X can do. The other organizations, only have a tiny idea, but still they want it for them. The PCs found X by luck, when they were after another relic for their patron. They knew of a long lost item (the X), as they knew that their patron was after it.


They kept it secret to make more money because they met the other organizations during the "quest" for the relic (not the X) and they thought that the reward for something that so many people are interested is trivial.


- The Patron was not aware of the difficulty the PCs had to find the relic.


The money that he gave to the PCs was the "budget" that his Master provided as reward for the relic. He also paid some extra (his own money) in order to keep the PCs happy, but still the PCs do not trust him now.


- X is really important for the plot.


The Object X must somehow be back to world, so that the plot reveals. Think it like in Lord of the Ring, if Boromir had taken the Ring from the hobbits and didn't die there. The Ring should be again somehow back to the world, in order to continue the plot.


- X cannot be tracked by Divination.


At least without a serious reason. Whoever tried to use Divination to track the location of the X all these years, he failed because the crypt was protected. Now It maybe can be tracked, but there must be a reason. The only one who is aware that the PCs know information of the location of the X (that's what they told him, they did not say that they have it) is their patron. Probably his Master will know it in a couple of days since the PCs asked their patron to let his Master know that they want a huge amount of gold for the information.


Also some of the PCs even think to keep it 100% secret, until they know the purpose of the other organizations (what they will do with X) so that the PCs chose who to give it to.
The idea of giving it to none was even an option.


Knowing now, I hope you see why I am in a dead end, and why I feel that the players are in control of my story. They also know that the information they have is invaluable to 3 factions, which make them feel immune to death, since the secret will be lost.


Now you know everying I do.


I thank everyone that already helped and in advance anyone that will help!


Cheers to all

 

[Sunseeker]

My first post here, nice to be in yout community guys.


I have a serious problem with my Eberron campaign's plot.


The facts are that my players, when were on their quest, found additional treasure than
the one they were send for.
The item - let's call it X - was really important to the players' patron and they knew it.
They were disappointed with the reward for their primary goal - although they had come to
an agreement in the first place - and they decided to keep X. One of them, member of a
noble wealthy house - NOT dragonmarked house - decided to give it to his father to watch it.

They send their patron a message letting him know that they have information about X but
they want a huge reward - knowing that he was searching X his whole life.
Now the problem is that I really needed this item to be stolen from their patron - if he had it.
Now that a member of a noble house has it, it can't be tracked there. I would love some ideas
how i can make it happen.

What CAN'T happen:
- Use Locate Object (none has ever touched the item)
- The player's father become a traitor
- Other members of the house know about it (the player was ensured that they were alone)

Players are lvl 4 and they currently are away for some personal seeking that will last at least one week.

So, what can happen in one week and have this item stolen?

What about some good old B&E? Im not quite sure what sort of object "X" is, but let's say its inconspicuous, maybe a book that only someone familir with the item would recognize, and as that someone isn't coming to visit soon, when the robbers turn the tablecloth into a makeshift loot sack, the item is caught up in the mix.

Assuming it is otherwise conspicuous, then the burgulars simply take it because its shiny loot.

In a week a LOT of black. Market trading can occue, which could move the item to distant lands, to a merchant who know the Patron wants it, sending him a missive that it is in his posession. The players then are surprised to learn from their Patron thatt they aren't in possession of the item!

 

[CAFRedblade]

Being part of the Draconic Prophecy, the item X is only a single piece of a whole. As the Draconic Prophecy Branches into multiple paths, this object only reflects one branch. Similar objects exist that reflect the competing branches of the prophecy. One of the conditions to completing this particular branch of prophecy is to gather and combine the objects in some form, with the last object added being the guiding branch line.

This can be revealed upon examining the object X in some way.

If the PC's are from a potential future/alternate timeline in which Khorvaire is destroyed, completing the prophecy in one manner will result in them going home, back to their version, but at a massive cost of lives.

Completing it in another way, or several other ways reduces the cost of those lives, but strands them at the current timeline point.

 

[PBEM66]

As DM, you have the power of the universe and all of the gods at your disposal.

#1: Is there some reason the patron doesn't pay for the item? Money is easy to lose and after a while, there isn't any real sense of cash. As long as magic items are readily for sale, give them the cash. Then have their wealth discovered and everyone is out to get their share from the party. With their new-found fame, all prices are adjusted up. They can no longer trust people not to be after them for their money. The father is kidnapped and held for ransom. Friends need loans. People try to swindle the party out of the money.Think of everything a lottery-winner would have to worry about, then add dark cults and assassins' guilds looking for a source of funding. Kings looking for help paying soldiers, wizards looking for funding to create time-machines...

#2 WAR! A war breaks out, separating the party from the father. Soldiers invade the home (humans? orcs? demons?). Have a time when the party doesn't know if the item is still in their control. This can be a large war or merely a skirmish for local dominance, as you need.

#3: The prophecy has failed! Reality starts to warp. Food spoils, magic malfunctions, Dogs and cats living together! The end is coming because the item was not where it needed to be. What does the party have to do to fix this?

#4: Assassins! Not at the party, but at the patron. Have him killed. But the assassins haven't found McGuffin yet! Who can the party trust? No one until they get rid of the item.

#5: Daddy loves you! The father does some research and finds out about the object or the patron... He doesn't betray the party, he 'protects' them by getting rid of the object before one of these horrible things can happen. The patron is willing to pay, but the object is gone! Did dad have it thrown into the ocean? Send it to the local mage? How will they get it back?


Good luck! this sounds like it could be great for your campaign! Look at all the possibilities!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Knowing now, I hope you see why I am in a dead end, and why I feel that the players are in control of my story. They also know that the information they have is invaluable to 3 factions, which make them feel immune to death, since the secret will be lost.


Now you know everying I do.


I thank everyone that already helped and in advance anyone that will help!


Cheers to all

Well, first things first... if the players are in control of your story for the time being... that ain't a bad thing!

As a DM, you are never going to have total control (nor should you want total control) of what is happening in the game or where it is going. Because your players will always mess up your plans because they have free will. All you can do as a DM is run with it and improvise around it. And more often than not... what your players come up with (in conjunction with some improvised additions you throw out) ends up being better than a linear story you wanted the party to follow.

Second things second... actually no, we still don't know everything you do, because we still don't know what Object X is, what it actually does, and why it needs to be out in the world... or at the very least, why it needs to be out in the world NOW. Unless of course you don't know that either yet... but I suspect you actually do.

Why does the Object X McGuffin have to be out in the world? Why can't it just sit in the father's safe for a couple days / week / month while the party does something else? At some point, the party WILL come back to it. Especially if you drop more clues on these other adventures of what exactly it is Object X does. At some point, the party will find out why Object X is so important, and do something with it. And once that happens... once the object gets removed from the safe and is transported elsewhere... that's when an easy theft can occur.

Third things third... if the three other organizations want Object X, and they are all intelligent organizations with smart people who can find and follow their own clues... at some point one of them should find the location of where the object was just like the party did. And unless the party were MASTERS at hiding their trail once they found Object X... these organizations should easily be able to follow the party's trail of where they went once they found Object X... eventually leading back to the father's house. Don't treat these organizations as stupid and who just stop looking for it just because the party already found it. If it's really that important, they will stop at nothing to get it... including spending the time to follow the trail to its end.

Because as you probably know... the Empire will learn who the Jawas sold the droids to, and that will lead them back... home.

 

[MarkB]

Since the PCs have communicated to their patron that they have important information about Object X, that information is now out there in the world, and can be intercepted by any or all of those three organisations. All of them (including the patron's master, doing an end-run around him) are now liable to come after the PCs, subtly or directly, and find out exactly what they know.

If they succeed, they'll know where the item is.

If they fail, the PCs will know that there are other groups actively seeking the item, groups who won't hesitate to do them harm in its pursuit.

Either way drives the plot forward.

 

[LostSoul]

I like your players. They sound like a fun group to play with.

 

[Herobizkit]

Draconic Prophecy, eh? Sounds like something a Dragon might be interested in.

Perhaps the uncovering of X has caused a Dragon sage (a sage who is also a Dragon) to "perk up" and seek out the device. If the Dragon is Good, perhaps she sits on the roof of wherever this item is and waits for the Human to die so she can take it without using force while also safeguarding it from other takers. If it's an evil Dragon, perhaps she just levels the place, scoops up the Prophecy, and off she goes...

Either way, Dragons aren't to be trifled with.