Thinking about running Dragon's Demand in Eberron (Spoilers for DD)


Adventures

Liberty's Edge

This isn't a thread for mechanical conversion, FYI. Just thinking about how to best adapt the plot, setting and background elements to the Eberron paradigm.

Basically, I think the adventure is pretty much usable as-is, and there won't be a lot of tweaking I have to do. In this conception, Szangi is an insane member of the Chamber who has decided that a key portion of the Draconic Prophecy is out of whack due to Xoriat's permanent misalignment from Eberron. He's been studying it, as was Hunclay, and wants Hunclay's research into all matters Xoriat to add to his collection.

(I'm trying to decide if I want to do anything with the fact that Hunclay's prize tome is called Secrets of the Dreaming Dark... I hate passing up on the unintentional reference, but I don't see a good way to hook the quori into this. Anyone got any thoughts?)

Likewise, the grioths and yangethe are natives of Xoriat that have been brought to Eberron via the dark window; it is only the existence of that particular portal that even makes the transition possible. On the other hand, the monastery itself is more problematic. Most monks in Eberron worship either Dol Dorn or the Mockery, rather than following a philosophy in the classic style. It doesn't really seem likely that a Dol Dorn-worshipping monk would go for something like the dark window, and I've been considering whether to rewrite the monastery as being dedicated to the Mockery instead. That seems like it would have a pretty big impact on the adventure's backstory, but I'm already having the biggest problem there anyway.

The single biggest challenge is, in fact, the tale of Tula Belhaim. It's an easy enough fit to make her a hero and noble of the early decades of Galifar's existence (I'm setting Belhaim in southern Aundair, near the border with Breland and the Eldeen Reaches). But her reputation as a dragonslayer is... weird. Eberron doesn't really do that. There are a few instances of draconic villains - Rhashaak comes to mind - but I don't know if they'd be widespread enough to justify a heroic reputation as a dragonslayer per se. If the ancient Aeteperax were particularly vicious, it might make sense, but I've been pondering whether there's a better alternative for the history that would work better, particularly if I involve the Mockery or Xoriat in it somehow.


My copy hasn't arrived yet, but when it does I'll see if I can come up with some suggestions. The first thing that comes to mind re: Tula Belhaim is perhaps something to do with the dragons involved in the early days of the Blood of Vol, or perhaps a clutch of evil dragons twisted by Xoriat who needed killin'? Thus she's not a hero for slaying dragons generally, but for the particular dragons she slew.

If all else fails, Tiamat isn't known as the Daughter of Khyber for nothing.

-The Gneech

Liberty's Edge

Ooh, dragons twisted by Xoriat... hadn't thought of that idea. That might work out well.

I've also been wondering if I should try rewriting the whole backstory to make it quori-focused, rather than Xoriat-focused. The grioths and yangethe already have psi-like abilities, after all - and I could much more easily see a group of seemingly-good-intentioned monks being infiltrated and subverted by quori and/or an Inspired than I could see them messing around with Xoriat. The timing is off, but perhaps this project represented an early attempt at expanding Inspired influence beyond Riedra, abandoned when it did not pay off? Obviously that makes the Dreaming Dark reference make a lot more sense, but it does open some new questions, like how to tie the modern-day Szangi into the quori web.


Finished reading the module last night, and I think you're right that Dal Quor is the way to go. So how about this:

IIRC, the dragons prevented the original Quori invasion by arming the giants, so naturally the Quori would want to nullify that threat before their next attempt. To that effort, they began insinuating themselves among a group of outcast or otherwise isolated dragons who had their homes in what would eventually become south Aundair/northern Breland. These dragons, already inclined towards evil, descended into depraved cruelty and tyranny once their minds were dominated by the Quori, creating the "dragon plague" as a localized phenomenon rather than a major historical event, but also giving rise to Tula Belhaim's heroism. Since Galifar was still going through it's birth throes at this time, the events in Belhaim were considered mostly a footnote to the larger historical events going on, comparable to the place "The Hobbit" has in Middle Earth history compared to "Lord of the Rings."

The monastery, naturally, was founded to study and contain the Quori threat, possibly with help from Kalashtar of Adar (who already have a canonical, if vague, tie to blue dragons, and might have been sent to help deal with the heretical clutch led by the elder wyrm Szangi later takes as his namesake).

As for Szangi's own ties to Dal Quor, that's easy. One option, he's a descendant and/or survivor of the heretical clutch. Another option, he was originally studying the Quori as ancient enemies of the dragons, only to find himself becoming more and more obsessed with them over time. Or if you like the "noble motives gone wrong" angle, maybe he believes a Quori invasion is imminent and is taking desperate steps to learn all he can to fight back against them. Being a dragon, he sees humans as ephemeral and disposable at best, so kidnapping, destroying towns, etc. are more like herding cattle than being "crimes" in his mind.

...That's the angle I suspect I'll take with it, anyhow. ;)

-The Gneech

Liberty's Edge

Oooh, that's good stuff. I like the idea of the locals referring to this "Dragon Plague" that the PCs have never heard of, and that confuses the heck outta them when it gets explained.

"But dragons don't do that!"
"Well, they sure did here!"

I think I prefer the idea that he started out as a scholar of the Quori but got corrupted by them as he went along - fits the overall feel that seems to be developing (and that ties into the way Golarion presents the Cthuluesque Dark Tapestry) of "gaze into the Abyss, and the Abyss gazes also into you." Perhaps it's gone far enough that he even genuinely believes himself to be Aeteperax, but some of his allies that have been with him for awhile still know his real name, and the staggering effect that using his real name has is more tied to the conflict of identities than just because he's angry...

To that end, I might rebuild the Iroran mummy as a kalashtar psychic warrior (with the meditant archetype) instead of a monk to emphasize that element...


The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the Ironan mummy was the Deathless; when you combine Deathless and dragons running around you get the Blood of Vol. Red herring? Coincidence?

OTOH, he's not a proper Deathless either... he basically sits around for a thousand years waiting to hand somebody a MacGuffin, then disintegrates. Maybe the body is actually long dead and is just being held together by the pure psionic power of the Kalashtar spirit.

-TG

Liberty's Edge

Yeah, deathless doesn't have the right vibe for me; his attitude and "I'll kill you to see if you're worthy" approach to the PCs seem to fit a unique undead better than a deathless. I might also look through the psionic bestiary and see if there's another undead-ish type option that might work better.

On a completely different topic, I'm trying to decide how to present the different factions in Belhaim too. Kol Korran matches up with Abadar well enough, but Shelyn doesn't really have an equivalent about the Sovereign Host. I'm leaning toward Boldrei. What do you think?


It depends on the aspect you want to cover; Eberron doesn't really have a "Venus" analogue, which seems to be Shelyn's primary role. If you're looking for a patron for romantic love, Boldrei's probably the best bet. Creativity, probably Onatar. Pure passion would be The Fury, but of course she's one of the Dark Six.

...all of which said, the Silver Flame is pretty strong in Aundair. ;)

-TG

ETA: re: the mummy, if you want a psionic critter, how about an unbodied, taking the semblance of the mummy?

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