Eberron

Oh, There Was An Adventure

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So amid the tech issues on Sunday, we did manage to get some story started – and the group began the hunt for trolls seen attacking a nearby trading post on the Southern pass. As they made their way in the direction of the trading post they began to notice that there were less sounds of birds and general wildlife. Then they began to find more and more traces of blood and gore scattered among the trees and could smell smoke.

Sepia-toned map of the closer surroundings of the Amberhammer Hold showing hills, mountains, rivers, lakes and so on

Caeluma took to the air to scout around. In the distance, the trading post could be seen, situated between the trail and a frozen over lake. In the woods nearby there was smoke from a fire. The group decided to loop around the nearby smoke source and approach from across the frozen lake.

They had to move slowly to avoid slipping. The DDC did however manage to make their way across without any mishaps. They’d hoped to approach quietly, but were spotted by four trolls when they were still a good sixty or seventy foot away.

Unable to immediately close, the group used spells and missile weapons to pick away at the nearest trolls – and were surprised when one of them returned fire with their own bow.

One of the trolls took the brunt of the attack and ended up being entirely melted by Kerne in an explosion of acid. They watched in horror as it fell apart, limbs struggling to fight on even as they fell away. Two of the remaining trolls dove for cover – one behind rocks and the other back into the burning trading post. The fourth began to pull back as the first two members of the DDC managed to get to the shore.

And that’s where we left the action

Lore Drop – The Family

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And so it came to pass that three prodigies were born to the trolls of the Blackcap Mountains. Three brothers, born with rare wit and insight to match their physical strength, and they thrived. As they fought and grew, they developed a strong sense that their lot could be better. The listened to their elders talk of the wars with the dwarves and how they had been driven out of their hunting grounds and away into the harshest peaks. They raged at the loss of their ancestral homes. When they were grown, they crept away from their scattered tribe and away from the harsh territories they had known to spy on those who had conquered their birthright. They saw how the dwarves built their Hold and traded, and enjoyed the fruits of the land and the treasures of the depths. They learned all they could of civilisation, and then went their separate ways into the lands beyond after swearing a bond to return and reclaim their place. One went North and found the Wastes of the Last War. One went South and found The Pit. One went East, and found The Sisters.

In the Wastes, Urash found weapons and machines abandoned and broken by war. He created armour for himself and taught himself how to use what he had found. He began to seek out scattered trolls willing to join his cause and strike back with him. Inspired by the uniforms and medals of the fallen, he forged amulets and gave his new companions pride and purpose. The Fists of Urash would strike hard and endure. They would be loud, and draw all eyes to them. Urash The Proud was his name.

Dhumish crept into The Pit. He was second of the brothers and the hardiest of them all. Amid crumbling ruins and fell residual magics in the Lands Below, he became warped in appearance and mind alike. Preserved by his trollish resilience and unnatural will, he became a walking blight. He pulled the broken and dying of his race to his embrace, and gave them new purpose and new forms. Among his forces are trolls who are too angry to die, trolls who are riddled with rot, venom, and mutation. The Tide of Dhumish would undermine and corrupt. They would be the quiet before the avalanche. Dhumish Crackleg was his name.

Irreck made his way through broken lands to distant Droaam, the nation of monsters. Along the way he haunted the roads and passes to hunt travellers and hone his skills. As far from home as he was, he never forgot the Bond. The Daughter of Sora Kell were amused by the impudent troll hunter, but revealed to him the location of the Sisters of Rot. These remarkable troll sisters had studied with the Hags and also had a dream. The three sisters were a match in ambition and power to the three brothers. Irreck the Stalker was his name.

Irreck brought the Sisters of Rot back to the Blackcaps. They watched the turmoil in the dwarven lands as the forces of The Pit and the Winter Knight were pushed back into the night and swore to take advantage. A new Pact was formed. The Brothers and The Sisters became a Chosen Family. They would undermine and overthrow the dwarves and their allies. They would reclaim the hunting grounds. They would raise high the Eye of Khyber and nothing would be the same ever again

Urash The Proud, Dhumish Crackleg, and Irreck the Stalker. Granny Riptooth, Nanny Gutrun, and Missy Lambrot were their names. Their Chosen Family would soon be known to all.

Return of the DDC

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For some reason we had pretty much every possible technical difficulty under the sun – and yet we succeeded in having and streaming a new session. We picked up on the activities of the DDC after a break – for them – of three months. This purely by chance nearly matches the real world difference in time but then we’ve all been busy. A new map of the Amberhammer Hold was made and updated… and nearly crashed everyone’s machines – so I’ll need to get on to photoshop this week and play around with resolutions to reduce the file size. Fortunately we won’t need to use it often, but it would be nice to have it as a framing device for quiet moments.

So – what had everyone been up to?

Sepia-toned fantasy map showing a mountainous area with various rivers and lakes. A shield-like icon in the middle is designated as AmberHammer Hold. Various other markings suggest other landmarks, but are not labelled
The AmberHammer lands – Made with Inkarnate.com

The newly-installed Lord Thorin Amberhammer had been busy organising patrols and the defences of his lands – as well as welcoming delegates from various Dragonmarked Houses with an eye to business opportunities. Being placed on the Aundair/Breland borders puts the AmberHammer Hold in a useful position for many traders. Thorin was particularly pleased to close a deal with House Lyrandar to rent them space for a small skyship dock that traders could use.

Arwan had devoted time to setting up a school and to helping heal and look after people in Flower Town. While not a confident speaker, his actions in The Reclamation (as some are calling it) and his humble life have brought him acceptance and at least nodding acquaintance with many of the villagers and traders.

Valenia went out to the mountains to hunt and reconnect with nature, as well as watch over the newly cleared lands. While patrolling she cleared or maintained various potential nature hazards to keep the passes clear, and identified a previously untouched richly stocked lake that could host a fishery if developed. She also found traces of what could have been trolls moving back into the area, but some of the signs and tracks looked…strange.

Kerne spent time working in Flower Town and researching various things with more of a degree of secrecy than usual. She also worked on commissioning something but what that is has not yet been revealed.

Caeluma’s focus was on establishing a general shrine and welcome lodge near the entrance to the Hold where weary travellers could ease their feet, grab some food, and give thanks to the Sovereign Host for their safe arrival. In contrast to the solid stones around them, this building is made of sturdy wood and bright plaster on its stone footings. A statue commemorating the fallen dragon Killiklik also graces the shrine. Caeluma’s faith and devotion showed a side to all that had not been as apparent to their companions while adventuring – even if their mischief also brought them to teach the children and young of heart how to pull off better pranks. As a reward of favour by the gods, two otters rescued by Caeluma took to them, and began to happily play and seek them out. Their home had been crushed and destroyed by what seemed, from the tracks left behind, to be a wandering troll.

Also during this time, Coal and Odif came to visit, allowing everyone to catch up with each other. The love between Caeluma and Coal continued to bloom – and when Coal announced that he needed to return to Fairhaven to look after their various businesses and concerns there – and return Odif to school – Caeluma asked Coal to marry them. Amid much celebration and affirmation he accepted, and they brought everyone in to a grand group hug. Arwan was quickly pulled into it to, despite his protests.

And then a guard ran in, calling out that there were reports of trolls at one of the trading posts…

One Shot Part Two

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The chaos continued this weekend, as the reverse heist D&D caper hit the point where the plan met reality – and the silliness was wonderful. A fairy sorceror, a harengon monk, a human rogue, a halfling wizard, and a tiefling bard made their plans to deliver presents as snows fell on the neighbourhood. Nobody made the Christmas connection, or if they did they didn’t mention it – but that was fine.

All focus was on delivering presents to Valenia’s parents for the first part of the session. They were staying at a guest house, and so a distraction was needed. Between sandwiches from the pub and Cupcake’s non-stop babbling, all eyes were distracted while Fearne, Ignis, and Guiness crept upstairs, evaded a tabaxi reading in a window seat, and broke into the correct room to deliver presents.

One successful drop-off later, the group made their excuses and headed out into the gathering gloom of the evening. They hadn’t managed to get the key from Coal, so some old-fashioned breaking and entering was called for. First, however, Cupcake made friends with the mimic disguised as a bench in the front garden. Bribery and a distressing amount of rabbit droppings left a cheerful mimic promising to not raise the alarm while they wandered around the garden.

By hook and proverbial crook they made their way up to a first floor balcony, and found a way in to Thorin’s bedroom. The only sound came from a chest in the corner which was gently snoring, so everyone was very careful to tiptoe to deliver the first present and then out into the hallway.

The whole session followed a similar pattern of bypassing sleeping mimics, a sleeping wolf, and dealing with a prank-trap of a wasps nest over a door. The group met Tanglefinger too – the boggle who shares the house with the DDC – and as they framed their intrusion as part of a prank, they were able to persuade him to help and again, not raise the alarm.

Having reached the top floor and dropped off the final present on Kerne’s bed, they then escaped by way of ropes down from the top balcony – well, apart from Fearne, who fell most of the way and broke his leg. They all then hobbled back to the Clubhouse for payment and healing – and a bonus present delivery to Odif of a set of mini automatons modelled after the DDC.

All in all, a gentle and funny romp was had – with lots of laughter and silliness – what a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Next week, hopefully, the DDC return…

New NPCs

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I haven’t entirely decided the how and where of most of these, but my ongoing experiments with Heroforge have presented some interesting options that seem to have stories to tell – or at least be the conduit for stories to tell with my assorted players. I’m trying to come up with characters that can stand out vividly – or be comic relief – and so today’s small batch ranges from a Dragonborn paladin, a Halfling bartender, and a Reborn elven hunter.

In order then we have Serenidas, a Dragonborn holy warrior descended from Copper Dragons who serves the principle of justice. Yes, the pun is entirely intentional even if not entirely original. Clad in reds and yellows, he has a magical flaming sword and an enchanted shield as he brings light to dark places.

Next we have Harlan Ghallison – a Mark of Hospitality Halfling who will be taking over the inn in Flower Town and widening the scope of the entertainments and treats available to customers and people passing by. I’m envisioning the sort of wry bartender running a Wild West saloon who may or may not have his fingers in some less that legal pies.

Lastly we have Hunter Dorull – who is an elf ranger who died before completing his mission and refused to stay put – at least, that’s his story. His body may be powered by pure willpower, but what is his mission, and why is he drawn to the DDC?

As ever, these tokens and portraits are free for the stealing for your VTT of choice – and I’d love to hear of any use you put them to!

A Warforged Gathering

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There’s definitely a therapeutic aspect to playing in HeroForge alongside the creative exercise of the emergent storytelling. As part of my preparations for the next phase of DDC adventures I’ve been toying with a series of Warforged antagonists, so thought I’d put them up here to give them an airing.

Warforged were introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in the world of Eberron – and are the products of a recently ended continent-wide war. House Cannith looked for ways to bolster armies by reverse engineering old giantish constructs. Somehow during their creation process, the warforged developed souls and a struggle began to be accepted alongside the biological races. One of the treaty conditions at the end of the war was a universal acceptance of the warforged as a people in their own right – something that still sits uneasily in some quarters.

In terms of naming conventions, the warforged often adopt functional or simple descriptive words associated with forging, machinery, or construction – but exceptions are growing as confidence grows in developing their own identities and culture.

So from top left we have Link – a sorcerer channelling lightning; Chain, an assassin; and Hook – a swashbuckling pirate. On the bottom row from the left we have Watcher – an investigator and his dog; Iron Ryan – a bare knuckle pit fighter; and Coal – gentleman rogue about town and his favourite Mimic

I’ve already used Iron Ryan and Coal in the adventures – Iron Ryan started as a foil for Thorin in his pit fighting career and for a while was a romantic entanglement for Kerne. The amount of time the DDC was away on adventures led to the romance fizzling out. While it was amicable enough, I’m sure there’s a rematch due in the future – and then there’s always the reactions of Karkanna to factor in as well to this imposing ex. Coal adventured alongside the DDC as their designated rogue before semi-retiring to raise Odif while the group headed off to Clan Amberhammer. He created a “Youth Club” for local tearaways that may or may not also be the core of a new Thieves Guild if the rumours are to be believed…

A New Challenger Appears?

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One of the fun things from playing around in HeroForge and drawing maps while doing some plotting, is that sometimes a character coalesces and you know you want to tell their story. I’m still not entirely sure what the story is for this character, but they’re definitely shady, have more than a hint of the infernal to them, are deliciously non-binary, and with any luck can become a decent foil for characters.

I’m not sure which group or story they’ll appear in – quite possibly in the Librarian adventures – or how I’ll use them – but please welcome Caiaphane, and feel free to grab their portrait and token for your own VTT or illustrative purposes. They are possibly a tiefling or a cambion pretending to be one, and they seem to be brandishing a molotov cocktail alongside their trident dagger. Suggestions for their plans or motivations in an Eberron background are welcome…

HeroForge – Faye Hagsworn

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An influential background character who hasn’t had much visibilty so far is Kerne’s younger sister, Faye – who went to study in the Feywild after their family was split up. There’s been a loose connection between the sisters by way of an enchanted journal, which each has a copy of, and that they can read and reply to each other by writing in it.

It was fairly late in the first year – as the group closed in on a group of Hags who had kidnapped an alchemist – that the DDC realised that Faye was apprenticed to the same Hags, and had been learning their crafts. When they defeated the coven, there was no sign of Faye – and it looked like she had fled with some of their research and materials after chaining up the nearby portal to the Feywild with iron. Removing the chains allowed Faye’s warlock patron – the Winter’s Knight – to emerge into the swamp. He too wanted to know where Faye was – but on learning that Kerne didn’t know anything permitted the group to leave.

Later investigations determined that a block on the group’s memories about their first adventure had been put there through the actions of Faye so that they would not remember Faye’s involvement in an ambush that took place by Morgrave University, and for a while there was a chill in relations between the siblings.

During their most recent adventure, the sisters began sharing knowledge again. Faye confirmed that she was on the run from the Winter’s Knight as the research she had taken pertained to making a drug that the Hags had been creating and planning to spread that made people more susceptible to magics cast by the fae. She was keeping that knowledge hidden to frustrate those plans while the DDC acted against Knight. Cooperating, the siblings were able to create a potion to cure lycanthropy, with Faye passing on the Hag recipe and Kerne interpreting the instructions and ingredients to what was available locally.

What is known is that Faye is Dragonborn, and a warlock sworn to the Winter’s Knight or some other high ranking Fey. She may or may not have taken on Hag-like characteristics as part of her training with the Broken Eye Coven – and quite what her plans and allegiances are remain somewhat nebulous.

As ever, feel free to appropriate character design and concept for your own uses

New Sourcebook? Oh Go On

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The world of Eberron, in which our D&D games are set is the brainchild of Keith Baker, and he’s been involved through the various reboots in different editions of the game but has had limited opportunity to expand published materials.

By way of various shenanigans a route to publish through the DMs Guild was arranged, and a companion book to Rising From The Ashes has been produced in the form of Exploring Eberron.

New Sourcebook, Much Reading

After merely hours of dipping in, I can recommend this to anyone running games in Eberron as it adds depth to the materials presented in the core 5th Edition book. Needless to say, this has arrived just in time as I plot the next section of the game. It has already spawned ideas for future stories with the group.

More importantly, it has clarified things I’ve not quite got my head around before now.

So at least I have something new to peruse while propped up chasing sleep. I’m counting it as a reward to myself for how much the group is enjoying the game.

Map – Closer View of Amberhammer Environs

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I’ve been catching up on shows this evening through the fog of painkillers and decided to spend a bit of time fleshing things out around the DDC adventures – so I’ve just drawn this up on Inkarnate. Its only a first draft to get used to a different style of map so I’m not sure yet if it will get used in this format or see major revisions.

parchment-style map of land bracketed by mountains and hills with extensive forested areas. A river and lakes descend along the left hand side. Various unnamed icons are dotted around suggesting ruins, farms, a mill, and a main settlement within a shield shape

I wanted to suggest features I threw in off the top of my head while describing the area during sessions – with hilly approaches from the south east and north east, and a mountainous pass to the north west. I also made mention of a forest that the DDC fled through after their first encounter with the denizens that had taken over the Hold, so that had to make an appearance. I’ve dotted a few farms – two grain and one gourds to the north, and marked good fishing to the west along with a mill.

During the attempts to draw together allies I mentioned an abandoned settlement near a depleted mine so reasoned there would likely be several of those in the area – marked with ruins and mine signs dotted around. There’s also a nice big open plains area to the north of the Hold where the main pitched battle took place, but that can also develop into a location for a trading hub now that House Sivis has opened the teleport circle. I’m still mulling over how much of a time elapse there will be in-game before the next game chapter – if only so the poor adventurers can have a rest and catch a bit of a break to enjoy the fruits of their labours.