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This is a thread for keeping track of the various items of note in an Eberron campaign I will soon be running. I like to tinker with the setting a lot to make it feel more dynamic, and I don't like forgetting what I've tinkered with.
Sending Books and Reading Stones
Sending books are distributed monthly to households in large cities such as Sharn—provided they pay their fees on time to House Sivis, of course. A sending book generally contains 10-50 scrolls, each of which holding a carefully modified form of the sending spell.
On their own, sending books are almost useless. However, when torn out and used in conjunction with a reading stone—a simpler and cheaper cousin of the speaking stones used at message stations—a page from the book creates a direct line to a specific speaking stone in the area. Upon contacting the station operator, the caller's reading stone is commandeered and directed to connect with another reading stone in the area. This allows someone to call another home from the convenience of their own home. The conversation can be maintained for up to 5 minutes.
Reading stones are increasingly popular, though their inability to make contact with anyone outside city limits does present certain drawbacks—not to mention their total reliance on House Sivis's message stations to function. They also cannot be moved at all without expert handling, usually by a well-paid House Sivis employee. Cheap ones can break just by being jostled out of their constant crackling levitation.
A cheap reading stone costs 10 galifars, while a typical 25-page monthly subscription to House Sivis's sending books costs 2 gp per month, or 20 galifars as a flat annual fee. For this reason, reading stones are largely a luxury of the middle-class.
Sending books lose their power after a month if not used up. It has been suggested that this is not by accident.
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Tieflings
In Eberron, almost all tieflings are rakshasa-born. Some possess a disguise self power in place of their normal abilities, making them superficially very similar to changelings. They tend to have animal attributes. If a player wants to play a catgirl, this is their port of harbor, I guess.
Kobolds of Sharn
Pipes and tunnels often go unnoticed in the City of Towers, but they run all throughout the five terrestrial levels of Sharn. That's where the nimble little kobolds make their home. The various kobold clans of Sharn are technically direct employes of the city, but in reality, they're employed by various subcontracted companies, often tied to the Dragonmarked Houses. In a deeper and more accurate reality, the kobolds clean the pipes because the pipes are where they live, and nobody knows the pipes like they do. Though not overtly malicious, Sharn kobolds feel significantly more loyalty to other kobolds, even those of other clans, than to any human or elf or company or kingdom.
Almost all Sharn kobolds follow the Cult of the Dragon Below, though their "denomination" is deeply unfriendly to other Khyber worshiping sects. In truth, kobolds worship all three of the original great dragons, and Khyber is emphasized not as the superior being, but as the being most relevant to the tunnel runners' survival. Khyber is a terrible being to be appeased, not a master to devote oneself to. All the kobold clans of Sharn pay homage to the great Shrine, located at Khyber's Gate, and this is also where non-kobolds must go to make demands of the clan elders.
In truth, the government of Sharn largely despises the kobolds, but they despise the idea of trying to regulate private entities to stop pouring toxic alchemical sludge into the sewers more, and the kobolds are the only alternative to prevent calamity. Sewer kobolds are an embarrassment to the shining City of Towers.
Kobolds hold couatls and true dragons in great regard, of course, and though the Sharn kobolds have little-to-no dealings with the legions of kobolds infesting Argonnessen, they know enough to despise rakshasas. To the Lords of Dust, the kobolds of Sharn are nothing but a nuisance—far too weak and cowardly to pose a real threat themselves, but persistant when they smell blood, and frustratingly good at finding things out. If the kobolds were to be contacted by a more powerful enemy of the Lords of Dust, it could become a real problem for their agents in Sharn. For this reason, the agents present in Sharn's government often agitate for harsher measures towards the kobolds, hoping to drive them from the city or purge them altogether.
Naturally, kobolds' opposition to rakshasas complicates their relationship with other Khyber worshiping sects even further, and they frequently get into bloody skirmishes with non-kobold Khyber worshipers—and the kobold heretics who believe couatls to be demonic "false dragons" sent to deceive.
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Hobgoblins
A hobgoblin never misses a chance to snatch defeat from the bitter jaws of victory, as the saying goes. It is said that hobgoblins are cursed with bad luck, their punishment for fighting the daelkyr and losing—or perhaps for the Shaking Emperor's long-ago flight from his own empire. It is said that a hobgoblin always plays chess like he's down to a king and a pawn—and he might play very well or very poorly, but there's not a long you can accomplish with a king and a pawn. It is said that a hobgoblin never forgets a slight, no matter how minuscule, and will destroy themselves in the effort of punishing it. The best way to understand a hobgoblin is to know what she has lost.
It's hard to blame them. Hobgoblins are intensely proud, but at the same time, trauma grips them like thorny briar branches, runs through their veins like sickness. Hobgoblins take any loss hard. They are accustomed to having their victories tarnished. This is, perhaps, why so many hobgoblins are Lawful Evil. Hobgoblins are used to having to scrape to keep both their lives and their dignity, and so a hobgoblin often behaves like the general of a losing side, honorable in defeat but ruthless in their bitter determination to hold on to the last breath.
This isn't all bad. A hobgoblin is at her best when she's up against a wall, given few resources, and forced to make do. When cornered, a hobgoblin is a ferocious fighter, a brilliant tactician, and a loyal comrade. But when she is given the upper hand... ah, the lengths she will seemingly go to to spoil her own victory.
Hobgoblins don't make a lot of friends. Surprisingly, a lot of hobgoblins have severe abandonment issues, and are, at the same time, very afraid of committment. A hobgoblin will with one hand grip his loved ones close, to the point of near-dependence... and with the other hand push them away, before they can plot to betray him.
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Goblins
If hobgoblins behave like cornered wolves, goblins behave like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Goblins are nihilists. They expect things to go badly, like the hobgoblins, but unlike the hobgoblins, this doesn't bother them very much. Nations have risen, fallen, and risen again, and the goblins are still here. Goblins are actually a lot more cheerful than hobgoblins, often putting aside grand causes or ideologies in favor of looking after their families and communities. However, when even this basic interest is threatened, they will fight viciously.
In Sharn, Goblin Town—located in the Cogs—is a tight-knit community and rigidly pro-union. Many Sharn goblins work the rail lines and other "night shift" jobs, and their lives are treated as cheaper than dirt. Goblins have taken to retaliating with violent, destructive riots and protests against the Dragonmarked Houses they are employed by. It seemingly hasn't occurred to the goblins to ally with the warforged and other low laborers—or, more accurately, the goblins doubt any non-goblins would take their side, and they aren't going to waste time asking. In fairness, when has anyone ever gone out of their way to help a bunch of goblins?
The riots have been quite effective so far; the Watch refuses to patrol Goblin Town anymore, and this alone is a victory. It's unlikely to last. The goblins' mindless cynicism is, like the hobgoblins', utterly self-defeating, and with a biased press and citizens' deep-rooted contempt for goblins, few allies are likely to appear unasked for. The goblins' cause might, in this case, be just, but unless some third party intervenes to get the goblins in talks with potential allies, it's going to end exactly how it always ends for goblins: with them on the run.
Tieflings (cont)
Owing to their ancestors' ties to animal forms, the forms of rakshasa-blooded tieflings can vary widely. Obviously, feline features are common, but so are third eyes, serpent tongues, arachnoid eight eyes, fangs, feathers and scales, and so on.
The one constant—which remains even when polymorphed into other humanoid forms, though they can visually hide it with illusions—are their backwards-facing palms, which remain an inescapable tell for those who know to look for it.
The Dark Six
The Dark Six are, like the Sovereign Host, predominately worshipped as a pantheon, though clerics usually choose one member to focus their faith on.
Goblinkind usually does not acknowledge the Sovereign Host at all, complaining that the Dark Six were their own gods before humans arrived and twisted them into the villains (and mangled the names in the process). To goblinkind, the Dark Six serve as part natural terror, part morality tale. They are still regarded as technically "evil" (save for the Traveler, of course), but most of them more in the sense of being extremely flawed people to be made examples of.
The Fury, goddess of revelry, passion, wine and madness, is better known to them as Szorawai. In goblin stories, she is Chaotic Evil, not Neutral Evil. Stories of Szorawai often focus on the Furies, the maddened revels she and her followers would throw—many of which leading directly or indirectly to terrible riots or glorious revolutions. The hobgoblins often treated Szorawai like the troublemaker of the pantheon, probably because her worshipers tended to go against hobgoblin ideals of law and order. She was also the figure who most often teamed up with the Traveler for mischief and mayhem. Just as often, of course, the Traveler would make her lose her temper, and she would box the Traveler's ears and sit on them for a few hundred years.
The Keeper, deity of death and hunger, is the oldest of the Dark Six, and also the most feared—even by Shurkaan. Known by goblinkind as Karrak, but mainly referred to as the Keeper, they tend to the dead, ushering them to the corners of the universe so they, too, may begin feeding on the world and drawing it back into Karrak's belly, where it will remain until Karrak is somehow tricked into letting themself be cut open once more. Karrak's role in stories is often as the primary antagonist.
The Mockery, known as Azur, is the god of strategy, conquest, and battle, though a running joke in the stories is that he is also the god of sore losers, for he cheats endlessly to win against his technically more worthy opponents. Azur is, like the Keeper, usually the heel of stories, with an ugly temper and little sense of honor.
The Shadow is simply known as Aureon by worshipers of the Dark Six—the idea that he is in fact merely the shadow of the true Aureon is a notion exclusive to followers of the Sovereign Host. Aureon is a god of magic, but he is also a god of corruption, ambition, industry and invention, and addiction, for his obsessive pursuit of magic has steadily worn him away into nought but a shade of himself. In early stories, he was a helpful force, but later stories suggest that the other gods rarely even see or hear him, much to his anguish. Aureon is the Traveler's brother, and it is said that the Traveler is the only one of the gods who can sometimes hear his weak, wispy voice. Goblins suggest that the industrious, magic-loving humans made Aureon a shadow of the "real" Aureon because they did not like the way his story ended.
The Traveler is the true trickster of the Pantheon. Sometimes portrayed as a woman, sometimes as a genderless being, and rarely as a man (sometimes their name and gender match the child who is being told the story, or a grandparent or local figure), the Traveler often serves to tie the stories together, getting into mischief and earning the ire of one or more of her fellow gods. Sometimes they serve as morality tale, earning a punishment by the end of the story for their trickery—or themselves punishing hubris by outsmarting an arrogant opponent. Goblins often turn the Traveler into a slightly more comedic figure than, say, doppelgangers necessarily like. The Giver of Gifts is also the god most tied to children, and charms of the Traveler are often worn by young goblinoids in the hopes that she will protect them from harm.
"The Traveler's granna" is not worshipped, but is frequently mentioned or sworn by.
Meanwhile, Szorowai and Aureon noticed the Traveler's absence. Stories usually make a big deal about how long it took them to notice she was gone, coming up with comedic theories for where she went (off conning Azur, off going to the bathroom after some very unhealthy meal, etc). Finally, though, they went looking for her.
The story gets a little convoluted from her, but the general gist is that Aureon and Szorowai used trickery and magic to get the Keeper asleep, but wound up eaten just before they could cut the Traveler out. Many versions (told by non-nautical worshipers) half-joke that Shurkaan started out as a bit of stomach indigestion, and the Traveler was the one who revealed to them that there was a whole world outside to make trouble for. Other versions have Shurkaan send his seas to make the Keeper seasick. Many versins have Azur show up but refuse to help unless the other gods pay him, only to get vomited on.
The general rule, though, is that the various animal friends the Traveler made, Aureon's magic, and Szorowai's strength manage to combine in such a convenient way that the Keeper is either cut open or forced to expel the contents of his stomach, releasing not only the captive gods, but the entire world besides.
Paladins may follow the Dark Six as a whole without compromising their alignment, similar to how clerics may worship outside their alignment without issue. Paladins may not worship individual members, however.
It should be noted that the Dark Six were never commonly worshipped among orcs, dwarves or halflings. Many gnomes, who were incorporated unwillingly into the hobgoblins' empire for a time, did take to the worship, and some theorize that the gnomes were actually the original worshipers (or inventors) of the Sovereign Host—or, at the very least, played a prominent role in adapting the Dark Six into the faith of the Sovereign Host. Lizardfolk, meanwhile, largely ignored the traditions of the empire they were forced into, just like they ignore the Sovereign Host. Lizardfolk do not have much use for gods when they know real angels on Eberron need mortal protection.
Though dwarves, orcs and halflings never worshiped the Dark Six in the pre-Sovereign Host era, it has not gone unnoticed that their own faiths all seemed to incorporate a Traveler-like trickster figure as well. Is this coincidence? Probably.
Dragonborn
Dragonborn almost exclusively originate from Argonnessen, and any dragonborn seen abroad is likely an agent of the dragons, an exile, or several kobolds in a trench coat. Usually, the dragons send human agents for their versatility and ability to blend in, or kobold agents for the fact that they have thousands more kobold agents than they ever really wanted. When subtlety is not a priority, however—or when the dragons want their enemies to know they have a hand in things—a dragonborn servant may be sent to stir things up.
Some dragonborn left the continent a long time ago and sailed to the Lhazaar Principalities, and so the largest non-Argonnessen population of dragonborn hails from there and largely pursues piracy.
Aasimars
Couatl-born dragonborn are better known as aasimars, and are much less overtly draconic. Like tieflings, their forms vary widely, but they, too, have a universal tell: They suffer Disadvantage (or a -4, in Pathfinder) on all Charisma-based rolls that require them to tell a direct lie, as doing so causes them deep discomfort. However, they are able to see into the Ethereal Plane constantly. This gives them no special ability to cast spells into or otherwise affect that plane.
All of the descendants of Siberis can sense when they are going to die down to the century, but for aasimars, this is not a very helpful awareness. All it really means in practice is that all aasimars are acutely aware of their own impending death. A surprising number of aasimars are found in Aerenal following elven ancestors, perhaps drawn to a faith that reassures them that death need not be the end.
What edition are you running this for?
Coincidentally I recently repurchased the Eberron campaign setting and have been diving back into the setting.
Thanks for posting, a fun read!
I'm running it in 5e for now! I might start posting actual session journals when we start in a couple weeks.
Kobolds of Sharn: A History
Talith and a crew of Cannith wrights, dwarven builders and cheap laborers set to work at once, seeking to purge the very memory of the Lady of the Plague by sealing away the deepest vaults. Exterminating and sealing away the undead wasn't difficult, and reconstruction started out well. Soon, though, Talith began to develop deep misgivings.
Many goblinkind still lived in quiet communities throughout the area, and through hiring goblin and hobgoblin laborers and hearing what they knew of the area, it began to dawn on the Cannith heir just how old the city was. The city of Sharn had been a booming metropolis once, but the deeper Talith dug, the more he realized the very foundations of the city were impossibly flawed. They were building upon ruins upon ruins, the ancient goblinoid constructions at the base long since past their prime and eager for a chance to collapse and bring the whole city down with them. Worse still, the ancient sewage system was polluted beyond belief, filled with oozes and ghouls and vermin and disease. Even if he could build the city up, the city's waste might just bring it all crashing down again.
The ambient magic of the area was promising, and he had already begun to concoct an impossibly expensive plan to incorporate increasingly demanding magic into the architecture. But to achieve what the king had asked of him—to build a city worthy of its place in the kingdom—Talith realized that the basic logistics made it a nearly impossible task. They would go well over budget, and likely into House Cannith's own funds. Worse, he would be working on this city for the next twenty years, and advancement from his station in the meantime would be unlikely.
Talith d'Cannith decided to meet with the leader of the kobold clan—a canny but inexperienced queen named Kinfen. They came to a simple agreement: The kobolds would assume responsibility for the sewage system, cleaning it out, repairing its workings, and maintaining it for the foreseeable future, until specifically the Redscale Queen, and only she, asked to renegotiate the contract. In exchange, Queen Kinfen requested three conditions:
First, the kobolds would be left alone, with full say over what happened in their territory, as long as it didn't spill over into the city itself. Talith saw this as quite reasonable: He had no plan of letting the kobolds roam the city once constructed, so better that they keep to the sewers.
Second, the kobolds would meet with the human leadership roughly every month, to review any issues and receive tribute. They also wanted the meetings to always take place in a venue they fully controlled. Again, Talith saw this as quite reasonable, on the condition that whatever location they chose (they were talking about some sort of shrine to their heathen dragon "god") be situated outside the sewers, somewhere beneath Sharn. The building itself would be their territory, but not in the middle of their "civilization". He had no interest in wading through filth, nor in entering the center of the kobold clan regularly... but he also did not want the kobolds having any structures on the surface. That said, monthly meetings were necessary anyways, since the construction was complex and required plenty of coordination.
Third, the kobolds would receive a payment for their services in magic items. For the initial agreement, Talith agreed on ten scrolls of remove disease and twenty potions of cure light wounds per month. Talith was caught off-guard at how low the magic-naive queen's starting bid was, and easily haggled her down to a pittance of what he had budgeted for the sewage work. Talith figured the kobolds' price would increase in time, but was confident he could keep it low and manageable.
Talith was jubilant. The budget was salvaged—indeed, he might even be able to pocket a substantial sum without anyone noticing—and the construction was back on track.
It was only a month later, after Talith's first meeting to the new "Cathedral", that Talith d'Cannith would realize just what he had agreed to.
What the dwarves had forgotten to tell Talith was that most kobolds venerate the Dragon Below. Talith had just given approval for an actual cathedral to Khyber to be built—and given sovereignty!—right underneath the city he had been tasked with raising to the heavens.
And much, much worse, he had also given a petty kobold clan full sovereignty over the sewers of his own city. He had no idea how seriously the kobolds would take this condition until he tried to go down into the sewers to retrieve a lost item and found himself surrounded by spears.
To Talith, "sovereignty" had just meant a sort of stewardship—like giving a tenant the keys to their flat. To Queen Kinfen, the Redscales were to be equals to the mighty empire of Galifar, and no amount of reasoning, mathematics or threats could convince her otherwise.
Talith d'Cannith panicked. Knowing that he did not remotely have the authority to sign away these things even had he wanted to, he led a troop of mages and soldiers down to dismantle the cathedral, capture the "queen", and force her to renegotiate. His dwarven colleagues warned him against this—kobolds were tricky, and they knew there had to be hundreds more Talith hadn't seen during his visits—but Talith was certain that to wait would be to allow his House and his King to get wind of the blunder. He had to act now.
There were not hundreds more. There were thousands. The Redscales had already brought several more kobold clans into their fold since the deal was struck, as word spread through the depths of the "kobold kingdom". The Redscales were a tiny clan compared to the kingdom of Galifar, but compared to Talith's 50-man mercenary force, they might as well have been the Dhakaani Empire.
Talith was put to flight, and the secrets spilled quicker than the blood of his men after that. When his superiors learned of his actions, they were enfuriated—to save face with Galifar I, House Cannith withdrew Talith on the spot, stripped him of his rank, and immediately committed more resources to the construction to mollify the king's wrath. King Galifar I was disgusted with how Talith's ambition had corrupted the project, and decided this time to send an honorable scion who would see the work through even if it took fifty years—and ideally deal with the kobold problem, too.
He chose Dura ir'Tain, a paladin of a wealthy noble family that had been financing much of the construction efforts. Dura was a rising star, smart and hardworking and, most importantly, honest. Better still, Dura had spent time as an adventurer, and would know how to exterminate the kobolds before they could get any more situated.
Dura arrived at the construction site, took about a day to read over the records, scanned over the treaty, and decided, "Well, it's in writing. Not much I can do about that."
To this day, Dura is remembered by certain figures in government as a very capable, very honorable figure who absolutely f&$!ed the city up for good. But Galifar should have known better than to send a paladin to break a treaty. Kobolds remember her a little more nicely as a reasonable woman who dealt fairly with them—the last city official to do so, though King Boranel, the rare times he decides to show up to meetings with the kobolds, seems like a fair dealer.
It would be thirty years before leadership realized that Dura had simply left the illegitimate treaty alone, and by then, Dura was retired, the sewers had been reconstructed so only the little kobolds could possibly manage them, and worst of all, Queen Kinfen had died and been replaced by her son, and the treaty clearly stipulated that only the Redscale's queen could renegotiate terms. Her son was not as apt a ruler, and the Redscales soon collapsed into three different clans, then twelve, then twenty-odd different clans. There would never be another Queen of the Redscales. With Queen Kinfen died the last legitimate means of renegotiating the treaty at all.
A few officials do still agitate for "renegotiating", of course. The commander of the Redcloaks, Captain Khandan Dol, is forced to accompany Lord Mayor and the Councilor for The Cogs to go and meet each month with the many representatives of the kobold clans once per month in the cathedral at Khyber's Gate, a duty all three despise. The Lord Mayor and Toranak see it as a necessary evil—Khandan would just as soon exterminate the lot of them. He has an ally in Councilor Javan, the representative of Skytower, who has developed an inexplicable fixation on purging the kobolds from the city... on account of having fallen under the sway of an agent of the Lords of Dust.
A group of Daask toughs following orders from a sadistic bugbear known as Yellowjacket show up in the pub to accost one of the new arrivals. Yellowjacket is a Daask operative, a grinning monster with a demented sense of humor who wields knives and swords like playthings. His cruelty is matched only by his cowardice—if the shifters with him can't cut it, he'll eagerly cut them loose for a chance to get away unscathed. He's not very smart, but he's certainly clever enough to cause trouble, and underestimating him is dangeorus.
After he and his goons are defeated, the adventure turns into a mystery: Why are they after their target? Who sent Yellowjacket? At the same time, Daask will not let defiance go unpunished, and the adventurers might soon find themselves needing a place to hide out.
The cast is coming together at last! There will be four stars in this campaign. Meet Avarice.
Avarice
CE Warforged (courtesan-model) Bard of Darguun
Deadname: Myrial ir'Galinne
Baron Lorn ir'Galinne of Cyre wanted his wife back, and he had the means and connections to make it happen. Sort of. Contracting with House Cannith, he was able to at least acquire a facsimile: A warforged of the rare and ill-named "courtesan-model" with his wife's name, voice, and physical grace.
Avarice hated her service passionately. Though designed to be a surrogate for another being, a living monument to the baron's dead wife, she was imbued with a fierce sense of self—as most people tend to be—and refused to conform. She was, to Lorn, a disappointment, but he kept her in line as best he could. Avarice reluctantly served him for four years as a dancer, confidante, and emotional support.
But in Year 969, the baron's home in Warden Keep was assaulted by the forces of the Llesh Haruuc, as the hobgoblins executed their takeover bid. Warden Keep came under siege, but the baron and the two thousand soldiers stationed there refused to surrender or retreat, and so were cut off, in one of the most infamous incidents of the Last War (though only the second-worst thing to happen to Cyre in the Last War). Slowly, all two thousand men, and the baron himself, starved to death in their stubbornness.
But not Avarice. Avarice didn't need to eat or drink. The baron had powered her down "for her own good" as the siege began—privately planning to destroy the warforged rather than let his "wife's memory" fall into the hands of the savage goblinkind, but dying wretchedly before he could get the chance—and so she did not have to experience the slow wasting away of two thousand living souls.
She simply awoke one day in the "care" of the hobgoblin army.
The goblinoids were curious about Avarice. Initially, they planned to enslave or destroy her, as they knew little of warforged. Fortunately for Avarice, the Llesh Haruuc took a personal interest in the strange construct, who swore she was no friend to the Cyrans and showed a vicious tenacity and adaptability he couldn't help but enjoy. Avarice was kept prisoner for a time, but only informally, as she traveled with the goblinoids and learned the ways of war firsthand. Avarice didn't necessarily enjoy the killing, but she reveled in the freedom, and worked hard to prove her worth not as a performer, but as a battle bard, advisor, and spy. The sheer joy of not being expected to dance or play for the amusement of the baron was almost addictive to her.
Avarice was good at making herself useful, and very good at making friends. In time, the hobgoblins and goblins of Rhukaan Taash came to accept her—perhaps it helped that Avarice, as the only warforged in town, was less a minority and more a novelty. She would spend the next nearly thirty years with goblinoids, choosing her new name and becoming accustomed to her new "family's" way of living. To Haruuc, she became something like a ward, and secretly the Llesh wishes she could have been a hobgoblin, one he could have groomed as a potential heir. That said, she's a little too wild to rule, or, indeed, to truly be ruled.
Instead, Haruuc simply enjoys her company, and enjoys playing strategic games with her, trying to teach her to temper her viciousness with a more ordered mindset. It has yet to stick, but she is nonetheless extremely loyal to the warlord, and proud of her service to him. Avarice actually identifies more with goblinoids than the common races, or even other warforged to some extent—something which deeply puzzles basically everyone she meets.
Avarice dreams of being worthy to bear the Razor Crown scars atop her head, to truly be a member of the Llesh Haruuc's clan. But more than that, she seeks desperately to fully distance herself from the memory of Myrial ir'Galinne. Even though none but her now know who she was "supposed" to be (as far as she knows), still Myrial haunts her, and she worries that she will never be able to truly feel like her own person.
Avarice has arrived in Sharn on the Llesh Haruuc's behalf. Officially, she and her partners (NPC goblinoids) are just here to spy and learn more about Sharn's criminal underbelly, particularly the movements of Daask and the Goblin Worker's Union. In reality, her mission is to explore the ruins beneath Sharn and search for ancient Dhakaani artifacts—not so that Haruuc can wield them, but so he can prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. She is under orders to either retrieve the artifacts or, if necessary, destroy them. This could potentially make her many enemies: Morgrave University, the Heirs of Dhakaan, and, of course, the other PCs.
The player has frequently described Avarice's deal as being, "I have no mouth and I must BITE"
Their likeness has at times been likened to chess pieces, or to the dancers in music boxes. The original courtesan-model warforged actually have delicate mithral winding keys that are inserted into their backs and must be rewound once every few weeks—and many of these warforged continue to be kept prisoner by nobles who have cruelly hidden the keys from their "toys".
Lotus, Changeling Sorcerer 2: It's been a week since you severed ties with the Tyrants, for reasons of your own, and banished them from your bar. You know they're still visiting, but it's impossible to inspect every visitor in a place like the Phase Spider. You also know that losing their protection bodes ill for your situation with House Ghallanda and the Boromar Clan, who for their own reasons want your joint shut down.
Recently, one of your regulars has gone missing—Professor Hill, a changeling woman from Morgrave University who's a bit of a chattermouth and a bit too talkative. She's sort of friends with one of your girls, an aranea (shapeshifting spidergirl) stripper, and you promised your employee you'd look into it. You hear she often frequents a cafe in Upper Cliffside called the Cliffside Cafe.
Dr. Katrina Charlotte, Tiefling (rakshasa) Necromancer 1: You recently received a call from Professor Hill—you've been working with her and a bright teacher's assistant, Anara, to investigate the scrolls beneath Sharn. She told you to meet her at the Cliffside Cafe in Upper Cliffside—Cliffside is a very sketchy quarter, but Upper Cliffside is mostly the place where sailors and merchants go for "respectable" entertainment. She told you to bring all your notes on the research, and that she would meet you there at 10am sharp. It is 10:15, which isn't that late by Hill's standards.
She was uncharacteristically taciturn this morning when she called you. The Cyran normally never knows when to keep her mouth shut. You decided to call in an old friend, a Tharashk inquisitive you know, and ask her to show up too, just in case.
Avarice, Warforged (courtesan) Bard 1: You arrived in Sharn some time ago and met up with your partner, a gruff mustachioed goblin named Haanc. You were looking into word of relics in the ruins beneath Sharn, but you've hit a bit of a dead end. You've been living in Goblin Town—a half-underground ghetto where the majority of the non-assimilated goblins live—for some time now in a very small apartment.
Recently, Haanc has been pestering a "Professor Hill", who works at Morgrave University studying goblin artifacts, for information, to little success. She doesn't want to meet with a goblin, but he knows she often frequents a place called the Cliffside Cafe in Upper Cliffside—quite a nice part of town, by your measure. You and he have taken to, well, staking out the joint, waiting for her to show up so you can make your case in person. You'd do just about anything to get her help.
Session 1 went quite well. When a sketchy bugbear calling himself Yellowjacket showed up claiming to be an employee of Professor Hill and that Charlotte needed to follow him, Avarice stepped in and called out his lies. He stabbed Charlotte and tried to carry her out as kuo-toa and gnoll Daask goons burst in to attack the party. Avarice was the MVP for both teams, badly injuring the bugbear but also blowing up half the cafe with a thunderwave and knocking out Lotus.
They managed to dispatch the enemies, though everyone but Mag'hara went down at least once. (Mag'hara is a tough-as-nails biscuit boxer gumshoe.) Yellowjacket was killed when Charlotte, revived by an item, started kicking the unconscious bugbear in the head, frustrating everyone.
They killed my recurring villain before they made it outside to the cool Cliffside map, every PC but one went unconscious, one party member injured two others, and now they're about to get arrested for property damage. It went great and everyone had fun. We'll be back next week!
Quotes:
*everybody has been delicately handling the bugbear in conversation, trying to extract answers from him, but Avi, currently just a bystander who knows nobody here, has worked out he's lying*
Avarice: *walking up to the giant bugbear* HEY, WHY YA LYIN'.
Mag'hara: The tin can ain't mine!
Avarice: *regaining consciousness* I AM NOT A TIN CAN!
Dr. Charlotte: Is 'porcelain can' any better?
Avarice: ... MODERATELY.
Mag'hara: *bobbing and bouncing like Scrappy Doo around a befuddled gnoll* Go on, then! Put up your dukes or cry uncle, ya big goon!
Gnoll: ... what are dukes?
Mag'hara: I mean throwing hands! Slingin' fists! Choppin' onions!
Gnoll: This isn't helping.
Mag'hara: *pauses mid-fight to throw a business card towards the cowering cafe staff* Here, House Tharashk will cover the damages.
Me, OOC: Okay, so, you aren't, like, a member of the family. You're licensed by the Finder's Guild. This is like a substitute teacher setting fire to a classroom and then promising the NEA will cover the damages. This is like a fisherman blowing up someone's koi pond and then flicking their fishing license to the homeowner and telling them that the Department of Fish and Wildlife will take care of it.
Gnoll: ... wait, when you said 'throwing hands', did you mean... like, hands of cards? Oh, I give up. *impales Avarice with his spear*
Shoutout, also, to Mag'hara leaping onto a table to roundhouse kick Yellowjacket, flubbing the roll, and accepting a partial success: kicking the bugbear in the face, stabbing her own foot on his tusk in the process, and immediately hitting her head on the low-hanging ceiling and falling down. Good thing she's got such a great AC or she would've definitely been the second to drop in that fight.
This morning, the party will have to explain all this to Inspector Mabwick Croke. Depending on how it goes, they will either walk free or be arrested.