I'm running it as Acererak being a Lord of dust, and the Soulmonger being an eldritch device that brings dolurrh coterminous with its location, allowing an imprisoned Overlord to feed off the souls there. The Overlord has gained enough power to manifest a minor avatar on Eberron (the Atropal) and if allowed to continue will eventually break free.
That's another great idea!!
Though I could swap Acererak with an empowered Rakshasa if going that way...
I reduced the effects of the curse because I wanted to reduce the urgency of the plot and because there are very few people who have been resurrected on Eberron. However the movers and shakers (mostly the churches) are aware of what is happening in dolurrh and looking for people to put a stop to it.
How did you reduce the curse's effect?
Also, in the theme of urgency... it seems to me that Chult is a LOT smaller than Xen'drik, so locations must be carefully defined in order to keep the time-bomb clock managable.
For Ubtao and the Trickery Gods, maybe they're the remnants of the most powerful giants before the dragons of Argonnessen destroyed giant civilization. Not quite on par with true deities like the Sovereigns and the Six, but close enough for the adventure's purposes.
I'm stealing that!
PCs are recruited by some noble/dragonmarked/general/etc. patron who was resurrected at some point and is now suffering from the death curse. He thinks its just him, and has the PCs investigate.
The death curse is known among the upper echelon, but it's being kept secret (in the noir style). What would happen if the secret got out not only that some of the most powerful people in the Five Nations are suffering this curse, but, perhaps more dangerous, the secret got out that all of these people had at one point died?
As the PCs investigate, they discover the death curse is a wider-ranging phenomenon. And are hounded by those from all corners to make sure it's kept secret...
If news spread that a Cannith Baron is sick and weakened, the others might get aggressive behind the shadows to increase their powers.
Same with a Ruler. If word get out that a King of the Five Nations is sick, chaos would follow within the country and could trigger another War as @
CrimsonCarcharodon said.
Two additional questions for everyone:
1)For those that are already DMing ToA in Eberron, especially in Xen'drik, how did you dealt with the lack of a Map?
2) Most of us (as in, the Internet) are thinking that the Death Curse is Dolurrh being coterminus, but according to ECS that would
enhance spells that deal with the dead (like Raise Dead and stuff), on the other hand Mabar being coterminus would infuse the land with Negative Energy (hence, undeads) and block spells like Raise Dead. What do you think of this (kind of fluffy but not really 'cos I'm a fan) change?