Eberron: The Kingmaker Plot - The Story So Far...

[Wreckferret]

Sharn: The City of Towers, City of Knives, City of Lost Souls.
A melting plot of cultures, races, cults, and other organisations.
From the depths of the Cogs, to the reaches of the floating Skyway; it's a hive of activity and intrigue... those seeking fame, fortune and adventure....and of people just trying to get by with their lives.

Three humans and an elf find themselves tied together after a very unusual encounter one night just over a week before the City's famed Race of Eight Winds....

The young Wilder, Whisper had taken her housemate, Stefano down to Ghallandra Hall in Underlook for a laid back night of gambling, music and drinking.
The investigator, Stefano had invited his Cyrian friend, the Priest Richter along too for the festivities.
So whilst the two men read the local news and enjoyed the hospitality that only House Ghallandra can put on, Whisper was trying her luck with the cards.

Most of the tavern was filled that evening with supporters of the upcoming Race of the Eight Winds underdog; the DireHawk; so whereupon a group of the Griffon Firm (supporters) came in looking for trouble, then the DireHawks were more than happy to oblige.
As things kicked off, the three friends decided it was time to leave- but easier said than done as the place turned into a real free-for-all.
Richter helped one of Whisper's card playing opponents, an elf by the name of Xael, who had a similar idea of getting the hell out of there, but whose attempts at acrobatics to escape the mob backfired and landed him on the floor more than once.

The four slowly made their way through the flying fists and flying furniture and got to the door just before the Watch arrived.

Some scrapes and bruises were shaken off and the four decided to vacate the area whereupon they spotted someone down an alley being beaten up.

Charging in to investigate, it became apparent that the assailants were not normal hoodlums, but were in fact Shadows!

Richter waded in to turn them, but was mysteriously inhibited.
He suffered Strength drain for his impudence.
Xael pulled his dual scimitars and ripped one shadow to pieces, but he in turn received Strength drain in retaliation.
Whisper 'ported ahead to help the fallen victim, who appeared unconscious.
Stefano attempted to help the priest and the Valenar by dispatching the elusive opponents.

After repeated failed attempts to hit them, the group finally vanquished the incorporeal undead, but at the cost of 3 of them barely being conscious.
(Whisper and Xael were about 1 hit from being turned into Shadows, whislt Stefano and Richter were 2 hits away...)

Then as they attempted to get the attacked man conscious, all three humans were hit by a spell that put them unconscious!
Xael was hit by another incorporeal assailant, who drained him almost to death, but instead made a spirit copy of one of Xael's own Scimitars and used it to stake the original victims body, before then decapitating it and taking the head!
The mysterious murderer then fled, leaving the near dead elf holding what appeared to be the murder weapon!

The three humans regained consciousness in time to grab their Valenar compatriot (who told them what had happened), and to quickly check the body remains for clues before the Watch arrived (who had already been alerted by a passerby).

In an extremely bad state, the four escaped initial apprehension, and Richter energised them all briefly put some distance between them and the scene of the crime. They then had to bluff their way past a random Watchman as they looked for a SkyCoach.
They eventually found one who would take them up to nearby Clifftop where Stefano and Whisper's residence was found.
He didn't take them to the door, and they had to avoid another encounter with the Watch with the help of a local Goblin who opened a private cut-thro for them.

Shocked by what they had seen that night; the brutal murder of one of the King's elite Dark Lanterns (the Intelligence division of the King's Citadel) by Shadows and a mysterious individual who was trying to pin the Spy's death on one of their group, the group resolved to try to find a way to clear their new friend's name, and to get to the bottom of such a nefarious act.
But not before they all crashed out for the night, .... and recovered from their ordeal.

The following day Richter restored all of their Shadow Drained damage, and they set out to examine the clues that they retrieved from the dead Dark Lantern.....

[Sheldon]

Episode 1: A SHATTERED LANTERN

[Wreckferret]

Direhawk not Darkhawk mate. [mebbe unicorn ]

I did have a suspicion that it was.... but went with the other.
No problem.

Is changed.

And just to confirm..... having been away on business for 2 days.... tonight's installment is not happening,
.....nor will there be a substitute in it's place.

So we all (especially Kelvin!) get a week off instead!

Kingmaker will be on Thurs tho!

(can someone who has his number text Tom plz?!)

[Kelvin273]

Text sent!

[Kelvin273]

I'll be there a bit late tonight, around 8-ish, feel free to start without me!

[Sheldon]

Tom has a job interview according to a text.

[Wreckferret]

So the crew seek to find out who's trying to frame Xael, and the general evilness of Undead marauding the mid-layers of Sharn.

Xael believed it would be best to speak to the Watch as he has nothing to hide, but being a newcomer to Sharn, it takes Whisper to point out that the Watch only want an easy life, and so would less likely go off to search for a mysterious Undead Controlling Shadow Mastermind, and just arrest the person who the evidence most points towards.
The elf reluctantly agrees.

The investigator, Stefano, goes out to chase down some leads on the House Sivis mark the group recovered off the Dark Lantern.... and to find out anything about the man's last words "Sky High".
He also sends an associate, a tall bearded man by the name of Nactocol, to the house to help the others identify the magic items retrieved, and try to identify the spells that the Spellcasting Assailant used on the group.
With the exception of the Turn Protection, all the other spells were arcane in nature.
Not all were ID'd completely but some had a Shadow Domain feel to them.

The ring was a Failsafe Ring containing an 'emergency' Mage Armour for its wearer.
The telescope was able to detect magical auras at a distance far greater than the normal Dtct Mgc spell.
...not that unusual for a spy was the supposition.

Whisper was called off to visit an old teacher of hers, and then recounted a warning to the others when she rejoined them on their way to the Citadel of the Sun; something about 'Beware the Bloody Knife' and that the 'fate of ALL Khorvaire hangs on a knife edge'.
"Cult of the Bloody Knife" rang a bell with Richter.... he couldn't be specific, but it reminded him of "The Blood of Vol".
...but then again, he thinks Vol & her Undead Army and her other followers are behind most things bad in the world!

Stopping at his temporary home in Sharn; the Citadel of the Sun, Richter gained audience with it's High Lady to ask if she knew anything of a "Cult of the Bloody Knife"- which she didn't. He also sought her wisdom over his vexing inability to Turn the Shadows from the night before.
She agreed that it wasn't his fault, and that his thoughts of an enhancing effect could well be true; that the Karnaathi Priests in the War were able to use an enchantment to bolster the durability of their troops.
Richter KNEW he had seen the effect before!.... and was now doubly convinced that the Blood of Vol are behind the whole affair!
That a Priest of Vol had helped the Mage who attacked the group and set Xael up.

Whisper and Xael then went to the Bazaar to speak to a cleric of the Valenar about Vol.
He told them nothing new and said they should speak to an Aerenal Priest of the Deathless if they wanted more.

Meanwhile, Nactocol and Richter went to the Order of Aureon to find out about the Shadow magic.... but it appears that although uncommon, that it is not a secret and any mage could learn it by studying at any of the major schools of magic across Khorvaire ("especially Atur in Karnath" Richter was keen to point out!).

Stefano had found out a more about "Sky High"- that it was a club of well-to-do gentlemen thrill seekers.
Specifically the thrill of throwing themselves off tall buildings and hoping to activate their Safewing Emblems before they went SPLAT.
He was also able to determine that the Sivis Crest was from a House occupant of their own sector; Clifftop!

Off to House Sivis, the group got in to speak with the Head Barrister of the House; a very successful Gnome lawyer.
Initially helpful, when he examined the crest, he clammed up- which both Richter and Xael picked up on.
When challenged, he denied it, which forced Richter to threaten him with a Zone of Truth for attempting to lie to a Sovereign Priest.
Whisper used the volatile engagement to get the Gnome to blurt out that the Crest was from an Excoriate member of the House.
That was enough to attempt to get more info out of House Sivis in the Dragon Towers.
Diplomacy worked better here, but they were still unable to get a name....except that the Excoriation happened 5 years ago and it was a resident of Clifftop.

With nothing further to attempt there, the group tried to follow up on the "Sky High" lead.
After a trip to the "Hollow Tower" arena, they were directed to a Dreamlily Den in Central Plateau.

Xael attempted diplomacy, but ended up wanting a fight.
Nactocol also looked around for clues but came up empty.
Richter stood out like a sore thumb, so hung back scanning for disguised Undead (or Outsiders). (he didn't find any).
But Whisper used her charms, and although had to purchase some Absentia (which went straight down the toilet back home), on her second attempt, managed to ascertain that the Club would be returning to this location on the following night to 'unwind'.

Before returning to the house for the night, the group found someone spying on their residence.
Xael snuck up on the man and challenged him of his intent.
The group (initially the distraction) closed on the man to hear his answers.
He attempted to deny everything, and Richter's Zone of Truth revealed little, as the man made a scene at being caught, so the group had to let him leave.

Xael however was convinced that someone else was also watching him..... by magical means.
And that it wasn't the first time over the last day!
The others tried to dismiss it as his normal paranoia.... but could they afford to?.....

The following day brought the opportunity to try to find the Excoriate Sivis member. A few words lead them to leave Clifftop to head down to Malleon's Gate; the Goblinoid Slum, to the Fallen Fury Tavern.
Whereupon Xael & Whisper recognise their goblin saviour from two nights previous who opened the alley for them to escape the Watch!.....

Note: I know I didn't quite get everything in the right order.... and we did stop off briefly at "Marquann's Rooms 4 Let", ....but have I missed anything you might think important of relevant?

[Sheldon]

[Kelvin273]

It's not OUR fault our Inquisitive had a job interview ...

[Sheldon]

Few things more hilerious than a party fulla awesome combat tanks, with nothing to murder.

I had sorta assumed you'd dug up all the bits and pieces like Skill Tricks because I do the same sorta overthinking with my PCs.

Anyway, plenty of stuff in the link, even if its only the skill tricks. As for the feats, whole campaign ahead of you.

Fight smarter not harder!

[Wreckferret]

So we didn't fight anything?!
I wasn't majorly bothered.

In fact, I quite enjoyed us chasing all over Sharn, ....playing with some nice RPing.

...but I can see how Sheldon might've felt frustrated with what he thought was OBVIOUS clues, or routes of investigation... and us being us, we were too busy instead trying to investigate Red Herrings or other dead ends that don't move the plot along properly.
but hey! it was completely in Character!

Still. Like I said, I still enjoyed the session.
But yeah, next week, not only will we hopefully have our Investigator with us.... but we are also now kinda on the proper track.

...tho I'm sure we can side-line it if we try hard enough (like, not very much, given our current expertise!).

[Kelvin273]

I can see the point too ... what I may do, if this becomes important, is take maybe a level or two in psychic rogue for the skill points if we are really going to NEED those social skills - as I have a whopping Charisma it makes sense for me to do that. Also it'll give me a few more options in combat (teleport behind people, sneak attack ); alternatively if I follow my original plan to take some levels in Psion, I can take some points in knowledge skills and a few others to likewise cover those angles a little better.

The main problem is we have two characters with no real skills to speak of (Nactot and Richter, at 2 skill points/level and limited lists), while Xeal has some they are limited (although surprisingly useful once we used them), and I had some but aloocated them to more physical skills (although I got cross-class ranks in a few areas). As for the skill tricks, they aren't as important as having the actual skills in the first place ...

[Sheldon]

s'always the same. Think you'v plotted out every possible route the party could take, and they still end up on the other side of the continent looking for a shrubbery.

Mind you, I wasnt just sticking a Wall infront of ye oldy Main Protaganist for the sake of it. Alot of the things you were looking for in that line are highly esoteric, national secrets or both.

....but have I missed anything you might think important of relevant?

The shadow school of illusion, while uncommon is a branch of illusion which is avalable in many of the great storehouses of knowleadge in Khorvaire. However some of the spells, particularly the one you couldnt even identify, simply dont exist in the archives avalaible to the Esoteric Order.

[Kelvin273]

The shadow school of illusion, while uncommon is a branch of illusion which is avalable in many of the great storehouses of knowleadge in Khorvaire. However some of the spells, particularly the one you couldnt even identify, simply dont exist in the archives avalaible to the Esoteric Order.

"Is there some sort of magic that you don't know about?"

"If there is, we don't know about it."

"Fair enough."

Question for you Sheldon: characters can have contacts, reading between the lines of the sheet you gave us, one per point f Charisma bonus ... which would give me three contacts in Sharn. I will assume I met with one last session, but that leaves me two more from my shady past ... ... I'm thinking maybe a halfling friend from my street running days, and maybe a little green dude from the same ...

[Sheldon]

The sort of spells I mean are those that exist in private collections, personal spellbooks of reclusive wizards, crumbling forgotten towers and other out of the way repositorys of lore. Any of which would not appear on even the most comprehensive of publicly avaliable databases.

I will be dealing with contacts next time, or tonight if we have time. That feat is particulary for classes that have contact as a feature like Master Inquisitive.