Eberron: Help me set up a long term plot thread

[Destil]

First of all, if you're a player in my game shoo! Go read something in the storyhour forum or something...








There we go.

Alright. What I'm looking for is ideas for a PC for my Eberron game. She's intended to be the classic "naked girl in a box" (River, Melfina, Lelu) plot device, discovered by the rest of the party very early in the game (I want some suprise factor here since the player will be sitting out the first session and no one else will even know she's playing).

Overall I want her to be a red hearing: she's a false lead placed by the Dreaming Dark within the Mournlands about a week after the Day of Mourning. As soon as it became clear to their agents that the destruction of Cyre could very well lead to the end of the last war they decided the best course of action was to place a false lead. This could be 'uncovered' as the cause at some point in the future, preferably in a way that makes it look like one of the five nations is planning to unleash the same sort of destruction on the others. The Dreaming Dark is knows just as little about the cause of The Mourning as anyone else. They want the last war restarted and giving the world a reason to fear a repeat of the Mourning through inaction (i.e. the last war ended because everyone was terrified that The Mourning could happen again, to them, if they kept fighting) plays right into their plans.

So what kind of person would the Knights of Thrane find that they would consider important enugh to bring back to Flamekeep for divination and investagtion? The player will have no memories at all and be a clean slate as far as personality. I was originally considering an empty vessel of the Inspired (and to make it look like it was some sort of fusion of arcane magic and psionics), but the last thing the Quori want is blame turned towards Rideria. A Kalashatar would also be good (set the world against their most hated foes), but where would the Quori spirit come from? Likewise what would make a Kalashatar 'unique' enugh to warrant attention?

Right now I'm thinking perhaps finding someone with the Mark of Death, peacefully sleeping in a mysterious tower (a meta-creative variant on Darem's) at the center of Cyre. She might not be an elf... in fact the wierder she is the better so it may make more sense to make her a human or similar. The player will be allowed to choose her class levels however she wishes (originally I wanted an empty vessel psion). She was created by a heavily augmented form of true creation (9th level or an epic power), using large numbers of Syberius dragonshards. Her eyes would have teanslucent amber irises with golden veins like a `shard.

Any suggestions? Getting her into the group should be easy and a intergal part of the first adventure. I like the mark of death idea (she'll draw attention from, Vol, the Undying court and the dragons once the word gets out).

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

A Red Herring is different than a Trojan Horse.

I think what you want to imply is that somewhere in her lost memory is "The Secret of the Mourning" (this is not true) As such she should be a member of House Canith.

If you found a Dragonmarked member of House Cannith, in suspended animation, at a Cannith Laboratory, within the Mournlands, who was missing memories, what would you think recovering her memories would reveal?

 

[Brimshack]

Sorry if this turns out to be implausible. I'm not too familiar with the Ebberon setting.

...but what if it turns out that she knows something important after all. Perhaps someone tricked the Dreaming Dark by providing them a vessel which wasn't so useless after all. So, they implanted the false lead in a person carrying a real one. So, you get a double plot turn. The false lead, followed by a sense that she's worth it, until a trigger, then she plays a key role after all.

Alternative variant: have her provide a lot of useless information, but plant one huge hint in her babble. Make it so its significance won't be understood until a later piece of information is provided.

 

[megamania]

House Cannith member is one idea.

House Phiarlan member is possible also. If I recall, quite suddenly most of the members of the house fled from the area just before the fateful Day of Orulune 20th.

Make her haunted by memories, there is a feat in ravenloft that allows a ghost to watch over you regularly giving a second Spot and Search check through it. It would be just as confused to the cause but may have insight based on its own experience.

She has a Dragonshard embedded within her skin (borrowing a bit from Dragonlance).

Give her the free psionic ability of Read Object. She picks up something and gets vibe from it. For some reason she gets better ones with the Cyrians and Cyrain products that were taken from the Mournlands.

Give her a new Abberant dragonmark related to Chaos (something I myself am working on).

Borrow from Azure Bonds- There are reports of several women found in the mournlands that look exactly like her with no or few memories. For a twist- she dreams about what the others have done the day before.



That's just off the top of my noggin.

 

[Nifft]

How about an Aberrant Dragonmark which eventually turn into a Mark of Siberys (via the Heir of Siberys PrC, which she is allowed to take despite the Aberrant Dragonmark).

The exact nature of the mark is ... some force that you want to explore in your game.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Destil]

I like the idea of throwing out various false leads and hiding a few gems with her. I'd most likely do this with dreams, rather than memories (or supressed memories), though I'm going to try and do a fair job about relating dreams of all the PCs often enugh to hide a few gems of information amoung the detruse of the subconcious.

The thing with an established dragon mark or abberant mark is that they're known factors. It wouldn't raise too many eyebrows (though you've reminded me that the nature how she's found is pretty important). The mark of death would be very significant, though at first it would be mistaken for a Mixed or Abberant mark. Not until someone who knew of the history of the Areni or Vol examined it would it come up...

Great ideas, keep 'em comming.

 

[RobJN]

How about having her find -- through trial and error -- that though seemingly fully organic, and alive (pulse, breathing, pick a bodily function...) she exhibits the construct-like traits of a Warforged? She bleeds when cut, but clerical healing does not restore her. Yet the wounds appear to heal like normal when the artificer uses repair infusions.

Is she truly alive? Human? Is she a construct? Warforged, or the next step that Merrix had been searching for? Maybe brought back to life through entirely artificial means rather than the traditional raise dead. A desperate attempt by a Cyran to bring back a loved one, maybe?

Perhaps she is the "leftovers" of the weapon that brought on the Mourning? Much like fission and fusion release huge amounts of energy when brought about... perhaps a soul releases a terrible amount of energy when it is broken down.


Rob

 

[Kaodi]

How about a tiefling with a powerful aberrant dragonmark that allows her to use shatter, or maybe even rusting grasp? She would be descended from Cannith blood, perhaps found by the Dreaming Dark in the Demon Wastes, or maybe even created by the Dreaming Dark by using the dreams of fiends to twist a young member of the house into something different. That would surely be interesting enough for the Knights of Thrane to want to keep an eye on her.

 

[The Lost Muse]

I think the fiendish blood a tiefling would lead her to be assassinated by some of the Knights of Thrane, even if she were initally brought in peacefully.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

So what kind of person would the Knights of Thrane find that they would consider important enugh to bring back to Flamekeep for divination and investagtion?

For something rare and exotic that would certainly draw the (positive) attention of followers of the Flame, what about an Aasimir of Couatl descent?