Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Cyre
Cyre used to be one of the Kingdoms of Galifar. Near the end of the Last War, the entire kingdom was completely obliterated by some sort of intensely powerful magic. It is said that the complete destruction of Cyre, and the fear of a similar fate, was the main driver of the peace process that eventually ended the war; if so, this is of little comfort to surviving Cyran refugees, who find themselves treated as poor omens, bad luck, and reminders of terrible things wherever they go.
House Deneith
House Deneith is one of the Dragonmarked Houses. They are known across the land for the quality of their mercenary services.
Adventure Two Debriefing
The Sentinels of Galifar were dispatched to the island of Thronehold. Their mission: Stop assassins of unknown origins from disrupting a border negotiation taking place between Breland, Thrane, and Aundair.
OBJECTIVES:
Prevent the Assassination of the King of Breland
Prevent the Assassination of the Queen of Aundair
Prevent the Assassination of the Ambassador Queen of Thrane.
Discover the source of the Assassins
Expose the source of the Assassins
The sentinels chose to dispatch:
Player - Class - Character Name
Sylvia - Bard - Iona
Luis - Paladin - Rein
Ross - Warlock - Git
Alex - Sorceror - ???
with Alex arriving late in the adventure. The sentinels arrived in Thronehold the day before the summit was scheduled to begin, in order to get the lay of the land.
Day 0:
The sentinels learned that the actual summit would be held exclusively in the old Galifar castle. The castle was obstensibly secure, manned by mercenaries from House Deneith. They felt that the presence of the marshals was superfluous, and provided constant reassurances that their role would be largely ceremonial.
Rein decided to spend the day exploring the castle with a House Deneith guide, so as to gain a greater familiarity with its layout and makeup (+10 to future checks involving castle layout).
Git decided to visit the nearby town of Throneport, which turned out to be a relatively poor town filled with shady characters. He was promised full cooperation by the mayor. Later he stumbled into the makings of a riot, as refugees from Cyre were stirred into violent protest via the eloquent rhetoric of one of their number. He seemed aware of the imminent summit and wanted to use it to make a political point. Feeling that this was outside of his jurisdiction and responsibility, Git decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and valourously snuck away.
Iona decided to pass the day getting briefed on the castle's situation by the head guard from House Deneith, uncovering much of the backstory and hsitory of the castle, Throneport, and Thronehold itself.
Day 1:
The sentinels learned from the head guard of House Deneith that there were festivities scheduled for that evening, involving some sort of "Halfling Rodeo Show". Feeling it likely that any would-be assassins would choose to join the show for easy access, the sentinels decided to further investigate this Halfing source of entertainment. Hearing that they were due to arrive in Throneport before any of the royals were scheduled to arrive in the day, the sentinels went down to Throneport.
Once there, the sentinels discovered that the local workforce of the Throneport docks were locked in a bitter dispute with management over improper payment of overtime owed. They were on strike, and refusing to do any work until the strike was resolved; this included unloading the Halfling entertainer's ship. Angered with what appeared to be a blatant display of incompetent management, Rein decided to confront the mayor, who seemed to be holding down several jobs in the city giving him a near-lock on all the governmental, legal, and blue-collar authority. When he arrived at his office, he forced his way past a flustered receptionist and found the mayor- in the middle of receiving payment from a man in a hooded cloak! Upon seeing him, the man raced out the window. Rein pursued, triggering an urban chase scene. He eventually caught and apprehended the suspect, and exercised his authority as a Sentinel Marshal to keep the prisoner to himself, out of the reach of local law enforcement. Meantime, Iona and Git went back to the castle, and notified the head guard of the troubles at the dock. Fearing that any snafu involving the entertainment for the evening might reflect poorly upon him, he dispatched a significant portion of the House Deneith guard force down to the dock to unload the ship themselves. Rein returned to the castle, and interrogated his prisoner. He learned that the prisoner had actually been sent to assassinate an individual known as 'The Patriot', who was causing political trouble for royal figures by stirring up Cyran refugees and inciting revolts.
Shortly thereafter, the Queen of Aundair arrived, by airship. The sentinels went out to the courtyard to watch, and the Queen began her royal entrance, descending gradually to the ground via magical floating disc. As she was doing this, the sentinels noticed that in one of the corner towers, there was an elf with a longbow preparing to attack!
Iona immediately dashed for the tower, intent on stopping the assassin. Git sized up the distance, realized that their chances of arriving in time were slim to none, and set himself in the role of point defence, intending to shoot down any incoming projectiles with eldritch fire. Rein evaluated the Queen's rate of descent, and concluded that she had no chance as long as she continued her stately descent; and yelled for her to jump for it. The initial shots from the longbow were met with eldritch counterfire; but it was clear that Git merely had to miss once for the assassins to succeed. The Queen, realizing that she was under attack and seeing sentinel marshals calling for her to jump, did so, assuming they had some sort of magical device to cushion her landing.
They didn't.
Rein raced to catch the Queen. Upon realizing the difficulty of his task, he positioned himself in such a way so as to cushion her fall at his own expense (gaining +5 to the check for every healing surge spent, receive that many healing surges worth of damage). Even so, his odds of a successful catch were less than 1 in 10 (19-20 on the die to hit DC 35).
He made the catch with flawless technique (natural 20!). Moments later, the Queen's bodyguards arrived on the scene, having leapt from the airship with magical parachutes. They immediately set about whisking the Queen to safety, shielding her from hostile fire. The sentinels rushed the tower, eager to apprehend the assassins before they could get away....
The sentinels stormed up the ramps to the tower door. They were confronted suddenly by some Valenar elves, backed up by guard Drakes. Iona decided to seize the intiative, using her once-an-encounter teleport to get past the guard drakes, who were barring the door. Unfortunately, the rest of the party was not quite so teleportationally-gifted, and Iona was slaughtered in short order by the focused firepower of the enemy assassin team. Deprived of 1/3 of their firepower, the remaining sentinels were unable to withstand the fire of the assassins, with Rein being knocked out of comission as well. Git was able to evade their fire at range, but was unable to prevent the escape of the surviving assassins from that distance.
The remaining royals arrived without incident, with security pumped up to paranoid. House Deneith's security was blamed, with the sentinels lauded as heroes for their role in saving the Queen. The next day, it occured to the sentinels that the Guard Drakes seemed rather large to have been snuck in so easily, so a search of the castle was conducted. It revealed a small tunnel dug into the castle from the city of Throneport. ???, Git, and Rein set about investigating, and discovered a small base of operations from a junkyard in the city. A confrontation ensued, with the enemy having an advantage, due to the sentinels being pinned in the tunnel opening. Rein and Git were able to force the entrance and get into open combat, but ??? was nailed at the entrance and incapacitated. After a short and violent fight, the sentinels were successful, but one of the enemies, seemingly a kobold, escaped into the tunnel, back towards the castle. The sentinels returned to the castle, and informed the House Deneith guards of the events transpired; a manhunt was organized of the castle, seeking a Kobold. However, the body of one of the aides to the King of Breland was discovered, with all its clothing stripped off. The sentinels concluded instantly that what they faced was not a mere Kobold (if it was a Kobold at all!) but a shapeshifter or illusionist of some sort. They immediately raced to the negotiation room, and bust in the doors. The captain of the guard hit the emergency trigger; the Royals were immediately dropped into a pit for their own safety, with magical feather fall effects preventing any damage. The party was faced with 4 would-be assassins... Dwarves from House Kundarak! Rather than confront them directly in even battle, the party lept after the royals, feeling that discretion was the better part of valour. Unfortunately, Rein didn't get the memo, and was incapacitated in short order. When the sentinels, now backed by several companies of House Deneith guardsmen retook the room, the dwarves were nowhere to be found, and neither was Rein.
As Rein came to his senses, he realized that he was tied up on a tower near where the airship of the Queen was berthed. The dwarves had apparently siezed control of the airship, and in conjunction with some goblins, were making good on their escape. Rein questioned them as to their motives, but they were vague, only revealing that they felt that the assassination of the King of Breland would, in the long run, save lives and prevent conflict. The sentinels arrived at the tower, having tracked Rein's bloodtrail, in time to see the airship pull away. Their attention was drawn to a smaller, still-docked vessel, the utility yacht that was used for cargo loading and unloading. Seizing it, they set off in pursuit.
The Dwarves noticed the party in pursuit, and sent the goblins out on magical discs to engage the sentinels. They were successful at first, incapactiating ???, the sentinel's only ranged striker. However, the weight of the sentinels bows began to tell, and goblin after goblin was brought down by arrow and crossbow fire. Finally, they tried to board the yacht and take it by force, only to be foiled in this endeavor by the marshal's skills in close-quarter combat. Unfortunately, by the time the goblins had been defeated, the airship had covered enough ground that it was clear that the sentinels would not be able to apprehend it. Seeing this, the Queen activated its self-destruct system, by de-activating its elemental bindings. The airship tore itself to pieces, and no evidence was recovered therefrom.
The Sentinel Marshals had succeeded in their undertaking; the assassins were foiled and no royals had come to significant harm. They had successfully identified the origin of the attackers, but had failed to discern their purpose or capture any for further interrogation and questioning.
OBJECTIVES:
Prevent the Assassination of the King of Breland
Prevent the Assassination of the Queen of Aundair
Prevent the Assassination of the Ambassador Queen of Thrane.
Discover the source of the Assassins
Expose the source of the Assassins
The sentinels chose to dispatch:
Player - Class - Character Name
Sylvia - Bard - Iona
Luis - Paladin - Rein
Ross - Warlock - Git
Alex - Sorceror - ???
with Alex arriving late in the adventure. The sentinels arrived in Thronehold the day before the summit was scheduled to begin, in order to get the lay of the land.
Day 0:
The sentinels learned that the actual summit would be held exclusively in the old Galifar castle. The castle was obstensibly secure, manned by mercenaries from House Deneith. They felt that the presence of the marshals was superfluous, and provided constant reassurances that their role would be largely ceremonial.
Rein decided to spend the day exploring the castle with a House Deneith guide, so as to gain a greater familiarity with its layout and makeup (+10 to future checks involving castle layout).
Git decided to visit the nearby town of Throneport, which turned out to be a relatively poor town filled with shady characters. He was promised full cooperation by the mayor. Later he stumbled into the makings of a riot, as refugees from Cyre were stirred into violent protest via the eloquent rhetoric of one of their number. He seemed aware of the imminent summit and wanted to use it to make a political point. Feeling that this was outside of his jurisdiction and responsibility, Git decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and valourously snuck away.
Iona decided to pass the day getting briefed on the castle's situation by the head guard from House Deneith, uncovering much of the backstory and hsitory of the castle, Throneport, and Thronehold itself.
Day 1:
The sentinels learned from the head guard of House Deneith that there were festivities scheduled for that evening, involving some sort of "Halfling Rodeo Show". Feeling it likely that any would-be assassins would choose to join the show for easy access, the sentinels decided to further investigate this Halfing source of entertainment. Hearing that they were due to arrive in Throneport before any of the royals were scheduled to arrive in the day, the sentinels went down to Throneport.
Once there, the sentinels discovered that the local workforce of the Throneport docks were locked in a bitter dispute with management over improper payment of overtime owed. They were on strike, and refusing to do any work until the strike was resolved; this included unloading the Halfling entertainer's ship. Angered with what appeared to be a blatant display of incompetent management, Rein decided to confront the mayor, who seemed to be holding down several jobs in the city giving him a near-lock on all the governmental, legal, and blue-collar authority. When he arrived at his office, he forced his way past a flustered receptionist and found the mayor- in the middle of receiving payment from a man in a hooded cloak! Upon seeing him, the man raced out the window. Rein pursued, triggering an urban chase scene. He eventually caught and apprehended the suspect, and exercised his authority as a Sentinel Marshal to keep the prisoner to himself, out of the reach of local law enforcement. Meantime, Iona and Git went back to the castle, and notified the head guard of the troubles at the dock. Fearing that any snafu involving the entertainment for the evening might reflect poorly upon him, he dispatched a significant portion of the House Deneith guard force down to the dock to unload the ship themselves. Rein returned to the castle, and interrogated his prisoner. He learned that the prisoner had actually been sent to assassinate an individual known as 'The Patriot', who was causing political trouble for royal figures by stirring up Cyran refugees and inciting revolts.
Shortly thereafter, the Queen of Aundair arrived, by airship. The sentinels went out to the courtyard to watch, and the Queen began her royal entrance, descending gradually to the ground via magical floating disc. As she was doing this, the sentinels noticed that in one of the corner towers, there was an elf with a longbow preparing to attack!
Iona immediately dashed for the tower, intent on stopping the assassin. Git sized up the distance, realized that their chances of arriving in time were slim to none, and set himself in the role of point defence, intending to shoot down any incoming projectiles with eldritch fire. Rein evaluated the Queen's rate of descent, and concluded that she had no chance as long as she continued her stately descent; and yelled for her to jump for it. The initial shots from the longbow were met with eldritch counterfire; but it was clear that Git merely had to miss once for the assassins to succeed. The Queen, realizing that she was under attack and seeing sentinel marshals calling for her to jump, did so, assuming they had some sort of magical device to cushion her landing.
They didn't.
Rein raced to catch the Queen. Upon realizing the difficulty of his task, he positioned himself in such a way so as to cushion her fall at his own expense (gaining +5 to the check for every healing surge spent, receive that many healing surges worth of damage). Even so, his odds of a successful catch were less than 1 in 10 (19-20 on the die to hit DC 35).
He made the catch with flawless technique (natural 20!). Moments later, the Queen's bodyguards arrived on the scene, having leapt from the airship with magical parachutes. They immediately set about whisking the Queen to safety, shielding her from hostile fire. The sentinels rushed the tower, eager to apprehend the assassins before they could get away....
The sentinels stormed up the ramps to the tower door. They were confronted suddenly by some Valenar elves, backed up by guard Drakes. Iona decided to seize the intiative, using her once-an-encounter teleport to get past the guard drakes, who were barring the door. Unfortunately, the rest of the party was not quite so teleportationally-gifted, and Iona was slaughtered in short order by the focused firepower of the enemy assassin team. Deprived of 1/3 of their firepower, the remaining sentinels were unable to withstand the fire of the assassins, with Rein being knocked out of comission as well. Git was able to evade their fire at range, but was unable to prevent the escape of the surviving assassins from that distance.
The remaining royals arrived without incident, with security pumped up to paranoid. House Deneith's security was blamed, with the sentinels lauded as heroes for their role in saving the Queen. The next day, it occured to the sentinels that the Guard Drakes seemed rather large to have been snuck in so easily, so a search of the castle was conducted. It revealed a small tunnel dug into the castle from the city of Throneport. ???, Git, and Rein set about investigating, and discovered a small base of operations from a junkyard in the city. A confrontation ensued, with the enemy having an advantage, due to the sentinels being pinned in the tunnel opening. Rein and Git were able to force the entrance and get into open combat, but ??? was nailed at the entrance and incapacitated. After a short and violent fight, the sentinels were successful, but one of the enemies, seemingly a kobold, escaped into the tunnel, back towards the castle. The sentinels returned to the castle, and informed the House Deneith guards of the events transpired; a manhunt was organized of the castle, seeking a Kobold. However, the body of one of the aides to the King of Breland was discovered, with all its clothing stripped off. The sentinels concluded instantly that what they faced was not a mere Kobold (if it was a Kobold at all!) but a shapeshifter or illusionist of some sort. They immediately raced to the negotiation room, and bust in the doors. The captain of the guard hit the emergency trigger; the Royals were immediately dropped into a pit for their own safety, with magical feather fall effects preventing any damage. The party was faced with 4 would-be assassins... Dwarves from House Kundarak! Rather than confront them directly in even battle, the party lept after the royals, feeling that discretion was the better part of valour. Unfortunately, Rein didn't get the memo, and was incapacitated in short order. When the sentinels, now backed by several companies of House Deneith guardsmen retook the room, the dwarves were nowhere to be found, and neither was Rein.
As Rein came to his senses, he realized that he was tied up on a tower near where the airship of the Queen was berthed. The dwarves had apparently siezed control of the airship, and in conjunction with some goblins, were making good on their escape. Rein questioned them as to their motives, but they were vague, only revealing that they felt that the assassination of the King of Breland would, in the long run, save lives and prevent conflict. The sentinels arrived at the tower, having tracked Rein's bloodtrail, in time to see the airship pull away. Their attention was drawn to a smaller, still-docked vessel, the utility yacht that was used for cargo loading and unloading. Seizing it, they set off in pursuit.
The Dwarves noticed the party in pursuit, and sent the goblins out on magical discs to engage the sentinels. They were successful at first, incapactiating ???, the sentinel's only ranged striker. However, the weight of the sentinels bows began to tell, and goblin after goblin was brought down by arrow and crossbow fire. Finally, they tried to board the yacht and take it by force, only to be foiled in this endeavor by the marshal's skills in close-quarter combat. Unfortunately, by the time the goblins had been defeated, the airship had covered enough ground that it was clear that the sentinels would not be able to apprehend it. Seeing this, the Queen activated its self-destruct system, by de-activating its elemental bindings. The airship tore itself to pieces, and no evidence was recovered therefrom.
The Sentinel Marshals had succeeded in their undertaking; the assassins were foiled and no royals had come to significant harm. They had successfully identified the origin of the attackers, but had failed to discern their purpose or capture any for further interrogation and questioning.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Adventure One Briefing
With the end of the last war, many of the horrors of the era are only now coming to light. The Sentinel Marshals have taken it upon themselves to track down and prosecute those who have comitted the worst of these atrocities and war crimes. During the conflict, there was an incident where several thousand prisoners disappeared while under the custody of the armies of Breland. The Crown has always maintained that the prisoners escaped in transit and must have taken up residence in Cyre, being killed along with the rest of that nation on the Day of Mourning.
Now a witness has come forward. A foot-soldier known as Johan is willing to testify about what he saw, and his role in, the burtal massacre of these prisoners. He has contacted the Sentinel Marshals and was willing to cooperate. However, since coming forward, he has disappeared. Foul play is suspected. A team must therefore be dispatched.
The Goal:
Locate and recover Johan. Extract him safely to protective custody.
Secondary Goal:
Identify and defeat those who would stand against justice and attempt to propogate this coverup.
Resources:
The team will have arranged transport in and out of the Thrane/Breland border region where Johan was serving. The governments of Thrane and Breland have both pledged their full cooperation in this matter.
Now a witness has come forward. A foot-soldier known as Johan is willing to testify about what he saw, and his role in, the burtal massacre of these prisoners. He has contacted the Sentinel Marshals and was willing to cooperate. However, since coming forward, he has disappeared. Foul play is suspected. A team must therefore be dispatched.
The Goal:
Locate and recover Johan. Extract him safely to protective custody.
Secondary Goal:
Identify and defeat those who would stand against justice and attempt to propogate this coverup.
Resources:
The team will have arranged transport in and out of the Thrane/Breland border region where Johan was serving. The governments of Thrane and Breland have both pledged their full cooperation in this matter.
Kor ir'Wynarn
Guard Captain of the Brelish border with Thrane. Encountered the Sentinel Marshals during their first mission, and provided map and logistical assistance to help them track down their target. Is an avowed supporter of peace, for he has seen too much of war.
Friday, October 9, 2009
House Rules
The following are 'House Rules' and are assumed to apply unless stated otherwise. This listing may be updated at any times with new ideas, or abuse-prevention modifications. If a house rule grants to all players an ability normally reserved for a specific class, players interested in that class should contact me in order to work out some modifications to preserve that class' balance.
House Rules:
House Rules:
- "Heroes Never Fail" - This house rule reflects that the players are heroes, not incompetent boobs. There may arise situations where a hero is in a position to make a skill check for which the two possible outcomes are success, and embarassing-and-useless failure. In this situation, a failed skill check will serve to educate the hero as to the impossibilty of his task, and he may choose not to attempt it. Example: Bob the Barbarian has been captured. He is suspended over a boiling pit of lava, awaiting the arrival of the dark one who will attempt to eat his soul. The player decides to attempt a feat of aerial acrobatics and rope tearing to work himself free, trapeeze style. The player then botches the roll. Rather than allow Bob to fall to his decidedly non-heroic and mundane death, the botched roll represents Bob the Barbarian realizing the futility of his escape attempt, and choosing instead to save his meager strength for a confrontation with the Dark One directly. Note: This does not mean you cannot fail a skill check. It basically means you cannot fail a non-plot central or boring skill check.
- "Heroes Aren't Boring" - This house rule reflects that the mundane details of character's lives, while accurate in their portrayal, are frequently about as interesting as watching paint dry. This means that heroes are generally assumed to succeed at mundane/stupid tasks; in a large metropolis, it should be pretty easy for a HERO to find an inn. Similarly, no HERO would be without his critical gear in a crisis situation; heroes can generally assume that they posess any appropriate mundane items below 100gp in value.
- "Dice can be boring" - In situations where a skill check is made under the assumption that failure will simply mean repeated retries until success is reached, a frequently boring occassion is the studious watching of 15 straight 'gather information' checks to attempt to locate the acolyte's home. In these situations, success is inevitable, but it may matter how much time is taken to acheive it. Instead of watching die roll after die roll, one roll will be made. If it succeeds, it will take the normal 'success' time. If it fails, some other die shall be rolled, and the number revealed thereupon is how many 'rolls' it took to actually succeed. Example: The heroes are attempting to locate the house of the acolyte in order to warn him of a pending attack upon his person. A Gather Information check is rolled. On success, the heroes would heroically arrive early, in time to warn the hapless acolyte and even ambush his would-be ambushers. On a failure, the DM would roll 2d4. It took the heroes that long to find the Acolyte's home, and they may be too late, or face stiff opposition!
- "Heroes never die... suddenly" - In many situations, especially combative ones, it is possible for the dice to conspire to suddenly murder a hero at an anticlimactic moment. This is annoying to everyone. The following rule is therefore inacted: In a situation where a hero would be killed in a non-dramatic way, that hero is instead badly injured. Maybe an arm broke, or he has suffered terrible scarring to his eyes and face. Heroes can only be killed if they are deliberately 'finished off' by an opponent (full-round action) via overwhelming odds, or in climactic battles for the fate of the adventure. This is to prevent 'revolving door' sessions where a string of bad rolls can result in a player either bringing in a series of increasingly unbelievable characters or being forced to sit out part of the session. We're here to play.
Sentinel Marshals
The 'Sentinel Marshals' are an organization in Eberron which is well respected and widely admired, yet carries little in the way of direct authority. They are based in the Sentinel Tower, a mighty fortress in the city of Karralakton, the second-largest city in Karrnath. Before the Great War, this organization served largely in the same way as the US Marshals work today in present-day America. With the events of the Great War, that mandate has evaporated. The organization proved unwilling to take sides, thereby gaining a reputation of trusted neutrality, and today busies itself with the same task as always: dispensing justice and protecting the realm. This mission frequently brings them into conflict with corrupt local rulers or would-be despots, but it is a rare nation that wishes to earn the ire of this organization.
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