What does the artifact want?

[Storminator]

In reigniting my Goblins of Eberron game, all the PCs will get an artifact. The Ironwrought Warforged Dreadnought blacked out during the Mourning, and after he came to he wandered into a ritual that was in progress when the Mourning hit.

A Final Messenger (warforged component) was the ritual focus for a powerful Divination ritual (Commune, Contact Other Planes, etc). The PC installed the Final Messenger, and now it talks to him.

So I need brainstorming about who's on the other end of the ritual, what they might want, and how they want this warforged to accomplish it.

Any ideas?

PS

 

[Piratecat]

I don't know a ton about Eberron, but let's see.

I think it might be fun to use for solving a great mystery of Eberron. Could it tie back to the First Warforged? Now corrupted and ancient, it is the model for every warforged who came after. It needs to absorb a younger one, and considers this its due. So it calls another warforged to it, promising great knowledge and power for its chosen heir.

It has done this hundreds of times. It remembers none of the other instances. It does remember, however, its birth - and secrets contained therein.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

It is the Lord of Blade's Final Messenger that was released when the LoB died. The Final Messenger knows the LoB's motivations and endgame and acts as a mentor to influence the warforged PC into bringing about the LoB's machinations that he is unable to fulfill.

Or it could be connected to someone in Dal Quor who needs help or to be freed or something. To create a mystery and hint about its origin it could cause the warforged to fall asleep and have dreams. I don't know enough about Dal Quor to bolster this idea but it's a seed of an idea.

Another seed for a mystery plot is that evidence would initially make it seem like it was formerly owned by another warforged but the players would uncover that it's actually owned by a self-forged.

 

[Storminator]

Thanks guys.

I like the Dal Quor idea. The concept that the Messenger dreams, and forces them on the warforged is interesting.

In Eberron the warforged were invented ~35 years ago. The PC, in fact, was one of the first and has an archaic design. He's old school. And when I asked for connections to other NPCs, he chose Lord of the Blades as one of his NPCs. So I can't have the LoBster die off stage. Hmmmmm, self-forged - there's an idea to play with.

PS