Eberron: DM needs help for side quest

[Sidekick]

Okay first off, my player stay out!!!!! And yes I do know some of your screen names.

Now that we have that out of the way – I need your help fellow DMs & am calling out.

Currently one of the characters in my group has a cursed magical item that they need to have taken off them, which was placed on them by a rather mad and evil member of the Karrn military, who is now dead a buried in his facility that the group totally blew up.

Here’s a quick party breakdown for you, just in case you need/want it:
[sblock]Everyone is 6th level, nearing 7th.
Changling rogue1/Tramsuter5 – Lhazaar native who is seeking to become a recaster
Human rogue3/cleric3 (Traveller) – from Thaliost
Human Monk6 - from Karrnath
Warforged fighter6 – the tank!
[/sblock]

The character is the changeling, the magic item effectively stops her from changing form in any but the most superficial manner.

So she’s been asking around / doing research about how to get rid of them and I’ve given three options that she needs to choose from IC & then get the group to go along with.

So here they are:
1) The cursed items were made in a manifest zone of Daavni by an eldritch machine and would need the creation skill of either the Twelve or the Arcane congress. She can try to find where they were created and then infiltrate the research facility to take them off.

2) A changeling supremacist org (modified Tyrants) is willing to trade her the info she needs to get them off, but they want a Dark Lantern agent killed & his info on the Tyrants erased..

3) The Third option is dealing with a Lich. Now obviously the Lich will want something from the changling arcanist in return. But what. I’m thinking something from somewhere where his undead minions would not be able to go.

So, basically I need help on these issues (please don’t all feel you have to give an idea for each, if I get 3 ideas for each one from 9 different people I will be a very, very happy man ).

A) Where should the research facility be & how could the group find it?

B) The assassination is a bit straightforward & I was wondering how I could spice it up? You know add in a twist that could compromise the group.

C) What does the Lich want and where is it located. I’ve had fleeting ideas of something from a church in the Mournland (what) or perhaps something from an ancient temple near the fist of Onotar. I dunno really, what’s something that an ancient and mad Lich would want, but something that only a non-evil group could get for him?

Many, many thanks in advance…

P.S Rat Bastard DM ideas are more than welcome

 

[shilsen]

Okay first off, my player stay out!!!!! And yes I do know some of your screen names.

Now that we have that out of the way – I need your help fellow DMs & am calling out.

Where are the PCs currently located and what resources do they have for travel? I would say that significantly affects where you can/should place the various locations.

But, without that info, here's an idea about the assassination option:

B) The assassination is a bit straightforward & I was wondering how I could spice it up? You know add in a twist that could compromise the group.

The twist could be that the PCs are intended to fail. Perhaps the target has bodyguards and the idea is for the PCs to attack and be beaten down but suck up resources, letting the real assassin step in and take down the target immediately afterwards. That way the Dark Lantern gets eliminated but the ones who draw attention (esp. if the attempt is in a place where witnesses might be) are the PCs.

 

[cmanos]

For purposes of this post, I am calling your changeling supremacist org The Tyrants.

yeah I see the twist in the assasination being that the Dark Lanterns put the characters on Breland's Most Wanted and send hit squads against them whenever they can. I like the idea of using the PC group as grunts to soften up the bodyguards to let the real assassin in.

If you don't want the Dark Lanterns coming after the PC's for the murder of their own, you'll need a changeling to take over his role so he isn't missed. Perhaps this is what the Tyrant's want. Or it may very well be something the characters come up with to cover the murder.

Sounds like a lot of fun! My initial thought also was that the mad Karrn who is now buried in the rubble of his fortress comes back at a later time, as an undead, for revenge. Thats the wonderful thing about Karrns.

 

[Sidekick]

Okay thanks for the quick responses guys.

Locations? I've envisioned that the agent is based in North Breland and as such they'd have to take him out in either New Cyre, Vathirond, Wroat or Starilsikur (sp?).

Transport. Well they currently have a folding boat, but apart from that there’s no airship hiding around or anything like that. So they’re stuck with the lightning rail or caravans (airships would suck their feeble god reserves too much).

I like the idea of using them as a diversionary group. Why didn’t I think of that? DOH.
- Hmm diversionary group so that the real assassin can slip in and take his place. I like it!

 

[Jarrod]

I don't know if you like using Dungeon modules, but issue 135 had an adventure based around infiltrating a prison and getting someone out - it would be easy enough to rejigger it to be "infiltrate the prison and kill someone". Especially if that someone was infiltrating the prison in turn.

It's called Chains of Blackmaw, originally for level 10 but you should be able to work with it. Looked like a fun scenario.

 

[waterdhavian]

This isnt on your list of options but it could work well. Bring the item to the Ashbound. The Ashbound are against any arcane magic and would most likely have some cool rituals were they take stuff and destroy it rendering it mundane. This could work, it could be the information that they gather after whatever else they do. Its interesting especially since the Ashbound are wary of anything unnatural and would be tempted to do harm to other items or players and its a good way to check out the Eldeen Reaches.

 

[Wystan]

Item 1. The research Facility. I have no clue. I don't play Ebberron.
Item 2. Assassination. The target is a construct, this is a recruitment/blackmail attempt. They want to see if the party is sympathetic to their plight. They hope the party will succeed and then will have blackmail information over them to use the party again.
Item 3. Evil Lich needs a ?non-evil? Party to go somewhere... He could need the party to infiltrate the temple/church most diametrically opposed to undead to destroy information about the lich. They might also be sent to get the bones of a Saint/Similar Idea so that the Lich can raise it and use i against the temple/church.

 

[Sidekick]

BUMP - anyone else?

These are all good ideas, keep it comin.

 

[Deng]

Rat Bastard Assassination Option :

How about having the target be one of the other PC's, but they only find that out after they have already been pulled in to deep so they can't just say no!

Think of the challenge of trying to find a way to make your "employer" think you'd killed a friend to get a curse lifted... would be even more difficult if another assassin was being used at the same time as a contigency plan.

Obviously this would only be fun if you could be sure the player wouldn't kill the other character and cause an in-party fight.

 

[Magesmiley]

Also not an Eberron player here, but as to item 3 (the lich):

How about an area which is infused with energy from the positive material plane? It could have some local effects which mimic the traits of that plane. Something like this would be fairly lethal to undead and could make for an interesting environmental effect for an adventure.