I've just started an Eberron campaign. My Age of Worms game isn't finished yet, but the plan is alternate between this campaign and the Age of Worms. I'm not necessarily planning on making this a really long term game. It will probably be more like a mini-campaign. I'm working with some pre-published Eberron adventures, and we'll see how they go. The first is "Forgotten Forge" introductory adventure from the 3.5 Eberron Campaign book.
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Eberron Journal
Session #1 (The Forgotten Forge, Part #1)
Characters: Drakken, followed by Krakken (hobgoblin, swordmage 1), Chad!Kah (thri kreen, monk 1), Sariel (eldadrin, hexblade 1), Volgrim (dwarf, runepriest 1).
On a warm rainy night, while travelling through the tavern ward of Sharn known as Hardeth’s Folly, the adventurers see a man leap from a balcony into a courtyard. He catches onto a palm tree to help break his fall, but then slips on the wet stones, falls, and is promptly shot from above in the chest with a crossbow bolt. An instant later a brutish warforged with a broadsword jumps down from the same balcony and starts trying to remove a satchel from the dead man’s body.
The heroes rush forward to investigate the situation. The warforged shouts at them to mind their own business and be on their way, but they do not mind their business. Instead they pick a fight. The warforged is a war paint covered savage, and it tries to flee with the satchel, but doesn’t get far, as Volgrim, Drakken and Chad!kah cut off his escape and surround him. It doesn’t seem displeased about having a fight on its hands, and it starts taking vicious swings that cut deep into the PCs. The warforged isn’t alone, a second one fires down at the heroes from the balcony with a crossbow. It tags Sariel after Sariel attempts to harm it with his eldritch blast. It then turns its attention on Drakken the hobgoblin. It shoots him in the shoulder with one bolt injuring him badly. Volgrim tries to heal his companion with a rune of mending, which helps a little, but then a second bolt pierces Drakken’s skull, killing the hobgoblin swordmage instantly. Chad!kah, Volgrim and Sariel finish off the warforged savage, as soon as they do Chad rushes for the palm tree, scales it and leaps onto the balcony to go after the sniper who has now started to flee. Sariel follows after the thri-kreen, but uses his eladrin feystep to teleport up onto the balcony. Volgrim grabs the satchel, and then the dwarf hurries up a nearby staircase to try to catch up with his companions.
Chad!kah the thri kreen monk is very fast, and the warforged sniper doesn’t get far before the mantis warrior pounces on him and starts clawing at him with a flurry of complex and deadly unarmed attacks. Sariel is soon at Chad!kah’s side, and the eladrin hexblade engages the warforged with his enchanted, summoned rapier- The Blade of Winter’s Mourning. The warforged drops its bow and draws a shortsword. It tries its best to fend off both Sariel and Chad!kah, inflicting some nasty injuries on the thri-kreen . It is soon badly damaged, and hit shouts out, “For the Lord of Blades!” and attempts a final stab at Chad, which the kreen deflects with one his chitinous arms. In that instant, Volgrim arrives and brings his rune inscribed war hammer down on the back of the sniper’s head, crushing it.
While the heroes busy themselves taking on the final warforged, a hobgoblin emerges from the Red Goat tavern to investigate the commotion outside. His name is Krakken, and he is one of Drakken’s many brothers, who all frequent the Red Goat. He immediately sees his brother dead on the wet cobblestones ahead of him. He rushes over to him, holds his corpse for a moment, mutters about Drakken being weak and fragile, then takes his brother’s blade and coin purse.
After the fight a crowd from the nearby taverns gathers. The heroes spend some time tending to their wounds and inspecting the corpses. They find identification papers on the dead scholar, and they learn that he is a provost at Morgrave University’s department of pre-Galifar historical studies. In the satchel they discover a journal filled with blank pages that has a symbol of anvil and hammer woven into the leather cover with mithril thread. Sariel recognizes the symbol as the symbol of House Cannith. However, it is not the symbol they currently use. It is from over a thousand years ago prior to the War of the Mark.
The city guard soon arrives on the scene, led by a dwarf known as Sergeant Dolom. The dwarf has had dealings with the characters in the past, having broken up more than one tavern brawl they were involved in. He knows them as members of the Cliff top adventurers guild, and although he knows them not to shy away from a fight, he doesn’t think of them as murderers. They explain what happened, and luckily there are some witnesses in the crowd that can verify their story. As a result, the dwarf allows them to go on their away, but tells them to stay near the guildhall in case he needs to ask him more questions in the next few days.
They return to the guildhall, not mentioning the satchel to the Dolom and thus taking it with them. The next day they ignore is orders and set out to pay a visit to Morgrave University where they speak with Professor Yorst, the head of the history department and try to learn more about the murder of Professor Geldhelm. He’s able to tell them that Geldhelm had certainly had his own private research projects on the go, but he was secretive about them. Geldhlem had mentioned being on his way to meet a representative of House Cannith the night he had been killed. Presumably that was what he was up to when he was murdered. They ask permission to investigate his office, but the Professor Yorst doesn’t trust them enough for that, and refuses them. Thus, they head back to the guildhall.
Back at the Guildhall they attempt to unlock the secrets of the journal through old fashioned study. By evening, they have made little progress in this regard when they are approached by a one of their fellow guildmembers, a stroppy warrior named Krastison. He informs them that there is a young messenger at the gates who wants a word. The acne-speckled youth wears the livery of House Cannith. He tells the characters that his mistress wishes to speak with them in regards to what they know about Bonal Geldhelm’s murder. She wishes to meet at a tavern called the Broken Anvil. Krakken, being a hobgoblin, is naturally quite rude to the lad and sends him scurrying back to his mistress to tell her that they will meet with her, but at a tavern called the Red Goat.
They go to the Red Goat to wait and see if the woman will show. It is a hole in the wall, a dive frequented by hobgoblin mercenaries, many of whom are Krakken’s brothers. It opens onto the very courtyard where Bonal and Drakken were killed. When the characters arrive the place is filled with rowdy hobgoblins and much brawling ensues while they wait for the House Cannith representative to arrive. When she does, she appears disgusted by the place. She is accompanied by a solem and dangerous looking warforged bodyguard. Her messenger, Travis, points the heroes out to her, and she sarcastically berates him for suggesting that she might need someone to help her figure out who the adventurers are in bar full of hobgoblins, especially when they include a thri-kreen. After giving Travis a kick in the ass and sending him to wait outside, threatening some hobgoblins and then ordering a round of drinks for all of them, she sits down to speak with the heroes. She introduces herself as Lady Elaydren of House Cannith.
Getting down to business, she explains that Bonal was on his way to meet her the previous night, and that he was helping her to find a lost heirloom. She suspects they have his journal, and she indicates that the journal should help her find the heirloom. She explains that if they hand it over she will hire them to get the heirloom for her. A deal is negotiated; the journal is produced by Volgrim, and Lady Elaydren uses her signet ring to somehow magically unlock the journal’s invisible writing. In the journal she shows the characters a page with a map indicating the location of the heirloom, which she describes as a small, star-shaped adamantine plate that is part of a “creation pattern,” a creation pattern being a recipe of sorts for the creation of potent magical items such as powerful constructs and the like. She offers them 800 gp to recover the “schema”, which is what individual pieces of such patterns are called. The schema is located in an ancient forge/foundry that was built before the War of the Mark, during which the city was destroyed. She believes the foundry remains intact and sealed in one of the many sublevels deep below Sharn. The journal indicates that it can be accessed by an ancient shaft that would have once been used to send coal down to the forge. The characters don’t bother to haggle, and they accept her offer. She then brings forth a quill and a piece of paper. Speaking an arcane command word, the quill animates and starts replicating the map from the journal onto the paper. She then gives the adventurers the map and takes the journal for herself. This concludes their meeting, except for the 100 gp that she pays them up front. She tells them that once they have the schema to leave a message with the bar tender at the Broken Anvil, and she will make arrangements to meet with them.
They return to the guildhall to rest the night, and the next day they set out on their quest. They travel first to the Golden Gate ward, a slum in Lower Dura that accesses the sublevels that lead to the entrance to the Forgotten Forge. After making some inquiries at the Rat’s Market there, they find a “reliable” goblin guide named Skaken. Skaken wears a plummed hat and seems to fancy himself as something of a swashbuckler. He claims to know the area well, and in exchange for the rapier that Krakeen acquired from Drakken’s corpse, Skaken agrees to lead them to the coal shaft.
The tunnels they need to travel to reach the shaft are known to be infested with goblins and other dangers. Skaken does his best to help them avoid some of these hazards, but they do happen on a pair of bugbears who have three pet dire rats. The two bugbears have a goblin strung up and are busy torturing him. They don’t notice the heroes, who are coming up on them from behind. The PCs decide to try and get the jump on the nasty critters. Chad!Kah and Sariel manage to sneak up and ambush the bugbears, and a nasty fight breaks out. The bugbears and vicious dire rats prove to be dangerous enemies. The fighting is fierce, and soon Volgrim and Chad!Kah are unconscious from their wounds. Krakken is also brutally injured, but so are their enemies. One bugbear is dead as are a couple of the rats. Sariel hasn’t been hurt and he manages to fight well enough to drive off the remaining bugbear. He then feeds Volgrim Chad!Kah’s healing potion, saving the rune priest just as he is about to expire. Next Volgrim is able to use his own healing magic to revivify Chad!kah. The adventurers tend to their wounds and prepare to continue on. They are about to move out, when they realize that Skaken their guide has vanished.
Xp for session #1
Warforged savage: 175
Warforged sniper: 250
Recovering the Bonal’s Journal: 125
Bugbears 175 x 2 = 350
Dire rats 100 x 3 = 300
Total: 1200/4 = 300 per PC
Xp needed for level 2: 1000
Total Character Deaths: 1
Session #2, Part #1 (The Forgotten Forge)
Characters Present: Volgrim (Dwarf Runepriest 1), Chad!kah (Thri Kreen, Monk 1), Sariel (Eladrin, Hexblade 1), Krakken (Hobgoblin, paladin 1)
The adventures find themselves in the under tunnels of Sharn with no guide. There is a debate about what to do next. Krakken is furious that their craven guide abandoned them, and he wants to try to track him down and dole out some hobgoblin justice in the name of Dol Dorn. The rest of the party is less concerned, as they still have the map. Despite Krakken’s protests they decide to try to use the map to navigate the rest of the way.
Time passes as they trek their way through the sewers and under passages. Finally a weary party reaches the coal chute that descends down into the lost Cannith Forge. The hatch to the chute is made of rusting iron and is quite stuck; only Volgrim has the strength to pull it open. They find a 5’ diameter shaft that drops down into darkness. Sariel drops a sun rod down, and it falls some 200’ straight down before the shaft seems to curve and the sun rod slides out of sight. They all pull out their ropes and tie them together. They then tie off one end at the top and send the rest down.
Chad!kah is nominated to go first and scout it out. The monk descends down with some difficulty. When he reaches the end of the rope he sees the light of the sunrod up ahead. He follows the now steeply sloping curve of the shaft towards the light, but he suddenly sees something grab the rod and drag it out of his sight. He only catches a glimpse of the creature responsible, but it seems to be some sort of sizeable insect-like critter. He then decides to venture back up the shaft to report to the party. The thri kreen is exhausted by the time he reaches the top. He decides he will guard the entrance to the chute while his companions go down.
Sariel goes first, but not being a strong climber, he has the rope tied to him and is then lowered down. Once he is down safely Krakken follows behind him. Finally Volgrim comes last. Unfortunately, the gods are cruel, and the dwarf’s hand slips early in the climb. He plummets down the shaft, attempting to catch onto the rope but failing. He lands with a splat that kills him instantly, and his remains slide into Krakken.
He’s clearly dead, so Krakken and Sariel call upon Chad!kah to rejoin them below. Chad!kah also has poor luck and slips and falls early in the climb. Luckily Chad!kah is much more acrobatic than Volgrim, and he manages to catch onto the rope and make it the rest of the way without getting himself killed. Meanwhile, Krakken sets out looting Volgrim’s body, taking his sunrods and hammer. He then unceremoniously sends Volgrim’s remains sliding the rest of the way down the chute.
When the adventurers reach the bottom, they discover the chute empties into a short tunnel that leads into a much larger room. At the bottom of chute they see the first sunrod, and a pile of old coal. Amidst the coal are two nasty, alien-looking creatures that combine features of insects and reptiles. They are each about the size of large dog, and they are feasting on the dead dwarf. The adventurers move forward to attack them, and the things flee without putting up a fight. Moving to the end of the short tunnel, they look out into the room beyond. It has a ceiling that is high enough to be beyond the range of their sunrods, and it is big enough to have the crumbled remains of several smaller, stone structures housed inside of it. Up ahead of them they see a small pool of water and a large patch of fungi. Just beyond that is a sinkhole in the cobblestone floor that is about 15’ in diameter. More of the lizard/insect creatures (Kruthik) are busy feasting on the fungi, and they seem to go back and forth from the sinkhole to the fungi patch. However the light from the sunrods has caught their attention, and as the characters are trying to decide what to do, several of them come skittering towards them. One of them is significantly larger than the others (closer in size to a lion), and it leads the attack. The adventurers find them to be dangerous opponents, their forelegs end in sharp spear-like points that they use to stab with, and they are constantly gnashing and biting. With great effort the PCs fend off the critters, killing a couple and driving the rest back to the sinkhole. Chad!kah is nearly killed, but luckily Krakken uses his divine lay on hands ability to heal the Thri-Kreen and keep him in the fight.
Not wanting to take even a short rest near the sinkhole, they make their way into the cavernous chamber, skirting the edge of it, and using the walls of the fallen buildings for cover. At the far end of this sprawling room they find, a single building that is still intact. It appears to be the building that might house the forge and hopefully the creation schema they are searching for. It is about 20’ tall, and its only entrance appears to be a pair of sizeable iron double doors. The doors are locked, and both Sariel and Chad!kah attempt to use their thievery skills to pick the lock. However, the lock is well constructed, and they are unable to pick it. As they are working, more of the insect critters emerge from a nearby hole in the ground. The hole is much smaller than the larger sinkhole- more like the entrance to a burrow or hive, and the heroes had previously noticed a few other such holes when they were making their way through the ruins. This leads them to believe, that there might be some sort of hive like complex underneath them. Three of the things come in at them. Krakken and Chad!kah stay on the ground and fend them off, while Sariel fey steps up onto the roof.
On the roof, Sariel discovers a hole in it that looks like it could provide access down into the forge. He doesn’t have time to worry about that at the moment, as he needs to help his companions. Chad!kah is holding one off, while Krakken, using his divine challenge, has attracted the attention of the other two. Sariel tries to focus his eldritch blasts on the one that seems most injured, and he and Krakken soon kill it. Chad!kah is not faring so well against his foe. He is still wounded from the last fight and in no shape to keep fighting . He retreats around the side of the building, but the quick kruthik follows him where it promptly leaps on his back and brings the thri kreen down. It’s about to kill him when Sariel hits it with an eldritch blast from up above. This gets its attention, and it flies up onto the roof to attack the eladrin. Sariel is still injured from his previous fight, and not in the best of shape to take on the ferocious critter. He drives his blade into its carapace causing a significant injury; at the same time he calls on his fey magic to make himself invisible to it. Injured and no longer able to see Sariel, it climbs back down the wall to feast on Chad!kah. By this time, Krakken has dispatched his own opponent and reached the thri kreen. He uses a final lay on hands to revive his companion. He gets his shield up just as the kruthik leaps down on him. He bashes it away and turns on it with his axe. Shouting a battle cry to Dol Dorn he hacks into it. An instant later Chad!kah’s on his feet again, aiding the hobgoblin; Sariel rejoins the fight, firing more eldritch blasts down at it from the roof. With the three of them fighting it at once, they quickly finish the wounded creature.
Session #2, Part #2, The Forgotten Forge conclusion
After dealing with the kruthiks the heroes are wounded and in need of an extended rest. Sariel takes a moment to peer down the hole in the roof of the forge building. He catches a glimpse of a pair of metal, dog constructs- iron defenders, which appear to be guarding interior. They decide that another fight is not in the cards at the moment, so they stealthily retreat to a ruined chapel of Onatar that they had spotted as they approached the forge building. They discover that some sort of lingering ritual on the chapel wards off the kruthik, and the place proves to be a safe place to rest. They spend some 8 hours in the chapel, tending their wounds and recovering from their ordeals. During that time, kruthiks climb up onto the ruined walls of the chapel and look down in, for the ceiling collapsed long ago. The creatures watch the adventurers, but they don’t attempt to enter the holy site.
When the PCs are finally rested and ready to press on, they wait for a time when the kruthiks seem the least active, then they sneak out through a gap in one wall and creep back to the forge building. This time they succeed without attracting the attention of the kruthiks. They take refuge behind the building and pile up some rubble, which they use to help boost each other up onto the roof. They then walk over to the hole. Sariel takes the time to get a better look inside, and he notices that on the far wall of the building is an elaborate forge; it is flanked by a pair of 10’ high platforms, and on each one is a ballista construct. One of them appears broken, but the other one looks functional. He decides to fey step to it and attempt to destroy it before dealing with the iron dogs. Chad!kah and Krakken leap down through the hole to help him. The iron defenders rush the hobgoblin and the thri-kreen, and they occupy each other while Sariel deals with the arbelaster construct. It ends up being a quick fight that the PCs win handily. Krakken and Chad suffer some minor wounds from the iron jaws of their opponents, but after a short rest they are ready to continue.
The adventurers recover a 5” metal rod from the head of each of the dog constructs. One is a triangle-based prism. The second is a pentagon-based prism. They also note that on edge of forge are three holes. Two of them match the shape of the two rods, while the third one is square shaped. Sariel immediately decides to check near the rubble where he had seen the remains of a third iron defender, which had been crushed when part of the roof fell in. There he finds a third prism rod. This one is square-based. They suspect the rods might be some type of a key, which could lead them to the schema they are searching for. Unsure of what order to insert the rods in, Sariel suggests triangle, square, and then pentagon. This proves to be the correct order, and as soon as the last rod is inserted into its slot, a panel in the wall at the back of the forge slides open. Inside they find a small wooden box containing the creation schema. They also find 12 mithril forging rods and 6 adamantine ones. They divide up the rods, so that each of them is carrying 2 adamantine rods and 4 mithril rods. Krakken takes the box with the schema.
They then leave the forge and try to sneak back to the coal chute, hoping to make a getaway without having to fight their way out. Their escape is foiled when they find a trio of warforged waiting in hiding for them at the bottom of the chute. The leader of the warforged demands they hand over the schema, and in return he promises he and his warriors won’t harm them. Unfortunately, by this time the characters have also attracted the attention of a swarm of kruthik. Caught between the warforged and the kruthik, things are looking grim. Krakken, snarls, draws his axe and calls out a battle cry to Dol Dorn; he is clearly ready to fight to the death. At this point a terrible fight breaks out. Sariel uses his fey step to get behind the trio of warforged and run his blade through the back of the leader, but the thing is too tough to be taken down so easily, and it turns on the eladrin slamming him with a thunder enhanced blow from his staff. Krakken and Chad!kah engage the other two warforged. Chad!kah makes uses of his special thri-kreen combat techniques to forced the warforged away from him and into the pack of kruthik. Krakken attacks the final warforged, but also finds himself being swarmed from behind by kruthik hatchlings. The hobgoblin makes a heroic final stand, but he is soon overwhelmed by the kruthik. Sariel and Chad!kah together finish the warforged leader, and then Sariel grabs the schema from Krakken. He and Sariel hurry into the chute and start climbing the rope, just as the kruthik finish taking down the last of the warforged. Fortunately, Krakken’s corpses gives the creatures enough to feast on that they don’t bother chasing Sariel and Chad!kah, and the adventurers are able to escape the Forgotten Forge.
Epilogue: Chad!kah and Sariel return to upper Sharn where they arrange a meet with Lady Elaydren at the Broken Anvil. They give her the schema and collect their 800 gp, which they only have to split two ways. After they return to the guildhall to both celebrate and mourn the loss of two more members of the Clifftop Adventurers Guild. They also each have 2 adamantine rods and 4 mithril rods that they need to decide what to do with.
GMs Notes: This adventure was a conversion to 4e from the 3.5 introductory adventure in the Eberron Campaign book. The kruthik are a 4e monster that I had a bunch of minis for and was itching to try out. I got rid of the horrid rats and the beetleswarm and stuck a kruthik hive under the forge area as a replacement. This ended up being a more than sufficient challenge for the characters. The rest of the adventure was more less run as per the 3.5 adventure.
It's been a while since I've run a 4e game, and I overestimated how hearty the PCs would be. Three deaths in 2 sessions was a bit more then I had intended, especially in an introductory adventure, but that's how things go sometimes. Who says 4e isn't dangerous or challenging? They still had fun.
I was thinking about trying to covert some of the other adventures in the 3.5 Eberron trilogy- "Shadows of the Last War", "Vampire's Blade", "Grasp of the Emerald Claw", but I'm not sure if I've got the energy for it. I didn't see any 4e Eberron adventures I particularly wanted to run, so I'm likely just going to make this an occasional campaign and start running Rise of the Runelord since I got the Anniversary Edition for Christmas.