Four weeks ago my Wednesday group reconvened to start a new 4th edition Eberron campaign. I am the DM and here are the players.
- AJ - A brand new player, he has never played any version of D&D before, but he is very familiar with video RPG's like Final Fantasy. His character is Abyzal, a razorclaw shifter scout (ranger). In an effort to keep the pressure low, we only worked out a brief background for Abyzal, deciding he was a mercenary for Breland during the Last War.
- Bruce - Bruce has played D&D over the years and regularly since we met 9 years ago. He is playing Nevitash, a kalashtar templar (cleric) of Balinor. The background Bruce sent to me is in the spoiler Spoiler:Nevitash earliest memories involve being raised by the monks in the temple of Balinor. As he grew, he was told stories of how his parents had brought him there as they fled from agents of the Dreaming Dark. He learned that the Dreaming Dark hunted down and killed all Kalashtars for retribution for their flight from Dal Quor. Although that exodus occurred more than 1000 years ago, agents of the Dreaming Dark still sought the Kalashtars all across Eberron.
In addition to the stories he heard, he learned the ways of Balinor. He was taught of the circle of life and how life leads to death which leads to life. He was also taught that those who are brave and courageous make their own luck. He learned the healing arts and how to channel his emotional side to calm and rational thought, although during times of stress, his anger rages out of him. Luckily, those times are few and far between.
Recently, several monks have been reported missing. While no one will talk about it, Nevitash has heard whispers that the Dreaming Dark has come to this part of the world. As he walked with a fellow acolyte and friend, Aiden, they were attacked by a human. While the battle was touch and go, Nevitash and Aiden prevailed, but not without mortal injury to Aiden. Nevitash vowed never to allow another friend to perish at his expense. Despite his training about the circle of life, Nevitash determined that he would use his gifts to save those with injuries. He also vowed not to be cause of harm to his friends. Like many Kalashtars before him, Nevitash fled the temple to protect his friends and teachers from the clutches of the Dreaming Dark. He was given leave by the Abbot to go forth into the world and preach the teachings of Balinor. He was told never to serve in any one place for too long, as agents of the Dreaming Dark would eventually hone in on his location.
Nevitash is a solidy-built individual, standing just over 6 feet tall. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes, and blends in well with most human populations. He is more serious than most humans and is often seen lost in thought. While most consider him to be contemplative of this faith, Nevitash actually considers the day he can be free to walk Eberron and make friends with no fear of the wrath of the Dreaming Dark.
- Chris - Chris has also regularly played D&D in some form with us for the last 9 years, and played before that. His character is Travok, the dwarf battlemind. Chris is super busy with a couple of kids and sent me minimal backstory. Travok displayed his psionic ability early in life and fled out of fear and shame. He wound up as a Brelish mercenary in the Last War.
- Earl - Earl introduced me to D&D about 20 years ago. Sadly he had a stroke a few years ago and he doesn't talk as much as he used to. He still plays, but he spends a lot of time in the background during roleplaying moments. He is playing Malus, a human avenger dedicated to the Silver Flame. I've spoilered the background he sent. Spoiler:He recalled it so well. The baying of the wolves that sent a chill down his spine. He had heard the tales that had been generated from mutilated sheep and imaginative villagers about the werewolves but a part of him had been hoping that the stories were untrue.
His father had been a part of one of the search teams that went out there but no one heard from him in over a week. His mother, Maessa, died two years back when the sickness came leaving him with but his brother, Trent.
Trent had been his elder by six years and as the baying grew louder it was he that had told him to stay put, to hide while he had a look. He begged his brother not to go as he drew the ancestral silvered blade Fenrir from the scabbard that he wore upon his hip insuring that everything would be ok.
Down below he went into the hidden crawl space below the farm house. He could see out between the floor boards. He waited, nearly an hour with nothing happening until he heard his brother come in. Fenrir was stained in the crimson lifeblood of something. He had just been about to come out of the crawl space as his brother was reaching for a rag to clean the blood off of his blade when the door to the farm house splintered opened. He could see it there, that snarling mass off fur, claws and teeth.
When the others found him in the morning he was cradling his brother's mangled corpse ...
But all that was nearly ten years ago. Since then Malus grew up in the orphanage though it was the philosophies of the Silver Flame that reached him and inerested him the most. As a oung child he would sneak off to their churches and spy on their sermons through a window, as a young man he would go to them and listen in to their sermons when he was able to get away from the orphanage more and more.
While he proved himself devoted, the priests learned of his past and his hatred towards lycanthrops in general. It was easy to spread that dislike to devils, demons and undead. One thing was certain Malus did not wish his fate to fall on another and thus excepted training from the clergy to hunt down the enemies of the order, fashioned as a tool of the order, though a willing one that has no qualms about his assignments as long as they lead him more often then not in dealing with the very beasts that were responsible in taking his life away.
- Jesse - I've know Jesse for almost as long as I've known Chris and Bruce, but have only been gaming with him the last few years. He probably has the most well-rounded RPG background, having experience with a litany of systems. He is playing Thurklish’ash d'Thaarashk, a half-orc scoundrel (rogue). Here is the back story he sent Spoiler:House Thaarashk long sought a foothold in the Demon Wastes of the north and sent many expeditions to that benighted land seeking dragonshards and the lost treasures of the Rakshasa. Many of the Finders sent to the Wastes never returned and were eventually given up for dead by Thaarashk. Timmins d’Tharashk was a member of such an expedition, and when his was caravan was overrun by demonspawn he fought bravely but was struck down and left for dead.
Fate, however, seemed to have other plans for Timmins. A group of Ghaash’kala scouts had observed the fighting, rescued the sole survivor, and brought the half-orc back to their camp. Over the next few days, while Timmins fought fever and infection, the orcish priests leading the Ghaash’kala debated what to do with the outsider. While the orcs had a long policy of non-interference with the southlanders, they also prized the martial ability and bravery the scouts reported of Timmins. In the end, Timmins was given a choice between exile in the Wastes and swearing allegiance to the Ghaash’kala. As a trip across the Wastes to the Five Nations would be a death sentence, and as Timmins wanted little to do with the wars raging in the south, he swore allegiance to the Ghaash’kala and the Binding Flame, took a brand, and joined their tribe.
Timmins earned his place among the clan, took a wife, and settled down amongst the Ghaash’kala. He had largely forgotten his old life until one day his eldest son, Thurklish’ash, showed Timmins a strange mark the boy had found on his body. Timmins instantly recognized it as the Mark of Finding, but thought little of it as the Last War was still raging and those of the Five Nations had little consideration for the Demon Wastes. Thurklish’ash’s mark proved useful for the Ghaash’kala, and he distinguished himself as a young warrior against the fiends of the Waste.
Eventually, the Last War wound down and House Thaarashk again turned its attention to the northern Wastes. Scouting parties of Finders were seen on the edges of the Waste and the Five Moons reached out to them to determine their intentions. During a parley at the Five Moon camp, one of the Finders noticed the mark on Thurklish’ash and demanded his return to the House. The Ghaash’kala were loathe to surrender Thurklish’ash to the Thaarashk as he was a warrior born and bred of the wastes. Eventually, at the urging of Timmins, who kept his former house affiliation secret from the southlanders, the Ghaash’kala agreed to release Thurklish’ash to the Thaarashk in return for generous terms on artifact trades.
Now Thurklish’ash heads into the alien Five Nations, a place of which he had only heard stories. His last charge from the priests of the Binding Flame that lead the Ghaash’kala was he represent their people with pride and demonstrate that not all people of the wastes are despicable carrion tribes. For their part, House Thaarashk was at a loss for what to do with their newly found scion on the one hand they were happy to have a member with the mark return to the fold, but they were also wary of his past with the Ghaash’kala. What’s more, a Finder with little knowledge of the Five Nations was less than ideal. As such, Thaarashk released Thurklish’ash on his own volition that he might learn more of the civilized nations and become a greater asset to his House.
Thurklish’ash is a six foot tall half-orc with pale green skin and yellow eyes. He wears worn armor and clothes that have been stitched back together with care. He’s quiet and weighs situations carefully before he speaks, but when he does speak he has little concern for formality or procedure. He generally views southlanders as weaklings that wouldn’t last a day in the Waste, but respects those he feels are worthy. While he recognizes a kinship between the Silver Flame and the Binding Flame, he believes that the Silver Flame is but an upstart corruption of the true teachings of the Binding Flame.
If you've decided to read this, then thanks. We've had 3 sessions and aready plot threads have gotten a bit complicated. As I was laying out my notes in a text document, I decided to use the campaign journal instead. That way, I might be lucky enough to get some outside input. It will probably seem like I'm rushing through the first couple of sessions as I catch up to the campaign and I'm sorry for that. Time is limited and I don't exactly have enough time to lay out everything in story form.
I decided to run the Mark of Prophecy adventure from the Eberron Campaign Setting, and then Seekers of the Ashen Crown, so expect heavy spoilers for both. After that I am considering converting Eyes of the Lich Queen to 4e, but that depends on how the characters develop as we play.
So, the first adventure, Mark of the Prophecy takes place during the last days of the Last War (actually the last day). The party, without knowing each other, converge on a tower at the edge of Cyre on the Day of Mourning, thus witnessing the event without getting caugh in it.
Abyzal and Travok, the Brelish mercenaries, were commanded to scout the tower. Nevitash, in his fight against the Dreaming Dark, has begun investigating the Draconic Prophecy in the hopes that it could help. A piece of the Prophecy is rumored to be contained within the tower. Thurklish’ash has been contacted by the King's Citadel and was instructed to hire himself out as a mercenary to the Thrane forces and spy on them. As such he was paired with Malus and they were given the task of investigating reports of Emerald Claw activiy on the hill near the Saerun Road.
The characters warily approaced the tower from different directions and eventually spotted each other. There was some immediate questioning and mistrust, but it was interruped by the outpouring of kruthiks. Almost as soon as the PC's got the kruthiks under control, the dolgrims began peppering them with crossbow bolts. The adventurers were now forced to enter the tower to deal with them.
The dolgrims had a pair of captives: Lord Major Bren ir'Gadden and his catatonic aide Aric Blacktree. The Lord Major quickly went from grateful to demanding, and was less than patient as he was question by this group. This got more strained when there was some small disagreement as to where to go. There was some concern about Aric and the pulsing fragment of the Prophecy, but short term healing didn't seem to help and only Nevitash showed any interest in the Prophecy Mark. He studied it and heard "Five at the brink of desolation stand as one against the tempest's roar."
Once a consensus was reached, and the party agreed to bring ir'Gadden and his aide to the Brelish camp, they left (Nevitash did not share his findings). Outside they were confronted by agents of the Emerald Claw. Meanwhile, the Mourning was happening. The fight took second place to the fireworks happening down the road. The Claw was defeated handily and the mist was explored, revealing only death. They chose to escort the recovered prisoners and then seek answers. Then we fast forwarded 4 years.