Okay, so. One of my group's regular players is out of town for the weekend, and I volunteered to run a one-shot game while he's away. I could use some help fleshing it out, though.
An archeological expedition affiliated with Morgrave University has just returned from a two-year project in Xen'drik, headed by charismatic druid Collan Sturmvoraus. It is said that the dig went very well indeed, and Morgrave is holding a large ceremony/press release in his honor this evening.
Sturmvoraus is not what he appears, of course. His wife was in Cyre on the Day of Mourning, and the shock nearly drove him mad with grief. In Xen'drik, he sought to uncover a way to bring her back... and he has. More or less. Maybe.
See, Sharn is built on a very large Syranian manifest zone. Using... some sort of eldritch machine, I'm not sure yet... Sturmvoraus plans on ripping Sharn free from Syrania and forcing it to reattune to Dolurrh. This would probably do something very interesting with the spirits of the dead, but it would also definitely turn local gravity back on and kill an awfully large percentage of Sharn's current inhabitants.
Thus, plot.
But where it comes to the actual adventure, things get pretty damn hazy. What I've got:
1. Very late the previous night, thieves (of some memorable sort?) break into Morgrave, looking for a McGuffin of some sort that they need for Sturmvoraus' planar disjunction to work. The players (some of whom are actually Morgrave faculty) catch them in the act, and fight them off (in some memorable way?).
2. The players investigate? Hopefully? And... figure out something? Something about the docks? Uncovering Sturmvoraus' plan? Also, a fight of some sort? Shit, I dunno. This part, I need help with.
3. They confront the druid at the ceremony, he turns into a freaking Behir and has at them in the auditorium, through the museum/Hall of Loot, and clinging to the walkways and skyscrapers in the storm outside. (This part I'm pretty sure about.) While he's in the Hall of Loot (you know what sort of area I'm talking about, right?), the behir-druid curls around the artifact the thieves were trying to steal and teleports it elsewhere (or something?).
4. The players hunt down the planar disjunction machine (somehow?). It might be in the Cogs, but it could just be in a vacant building in the middle of the city. Whatever it is, it's big; and, as it's activating, it'll provide some dynamic terrain for the last fight. There may be void wraiths. I'm not sure about the details of the fight (particularly who they're fighting), or how they'll find the thing in the first place--considering that they should probably figure it out after they fight the druid, or else they'll just destroy the machine and won't give a damn about Sturmvoraus.
...so, yeah. It needs a bit of work. As you can see. Help, please? I'm not wedded to that plot structure, though I'm rather attached to #3.
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What level are you considering for this? Obviously paragonish, given the Behir, but specifics there would help. Its definately important for determining the prevalence of flight, which is a big deal for dramatic fights in Sharn.
Also, how much time will you have for this / how experienced are the players with 4e? That will make a big difference as to how many encounters can be feasibly run (though it looks like you're shooting for 4ish, so a 4-6 hour slot?)
What level are you considering for this? Obviously paragonish, given the Behir, but specifics there would help. Its definately important for determining the prevalence of flight, which is a big deal for dramatic fights in Sharn.
Good point. The players are level seven; the Behir will be deleveled to nine.
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Also, how much time will you have for this / how experienced are the players with 4e? That will make a big difference as to how many encounters can be feasibly run (though it looks like you're shooting for 4ish, so a 4-6 hour slot?)
I've got about eight hours, and they're fairly experienced with 4e (well, except for the guy who won't be there)--but they move slowly. I think I can up the pace a little over our normal DM, so a normal encounter should take maybe 45 minutes, half an hour in the best case. I think.
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Step 1: OOC Intro to Eberron, general exposition, perhaps announced by some Morgrave bigwig, or better yet an Evening Edition of the University Press (If you have time to actually print out something in that vein, awesome). Players (as faculty or those associated with the University) should all be in Morgrave and have time to interact with people, though they should all have some reason to be working in the university late at night (close to a research breakthrough, nighttime security staff, etc.)
Step 2: Break-in! Thieves break in to the university, trying to steal a McGuffin (perhaps best choice would be an object of a PC's research). Ideas that spring to mind for awesome:
-While the researching PC is working, he sees himself enter the room and appear shocked that he's already there. The thief is a changeling, and simply disguised himself as the PC to enter.
-The thief(ves) throws out several softball-sized spherical drone constructs that are minions or full monsters to help him subdue the PCs and get out with the item.
-Thieves swing in from zip-lines shot from a nearby tower, and set up ziplines to escape as well
-The thieves cast a ritual that conjures a bank of fog (one may already exist, not sure), and attempt to break in under its cover
-The thieves bring some kind of exotic hunting animal from Xen'drik
In any case, there are a couple possible results here
-Thieves all killed
-Thieves all defeated, but some still alive
-Thieves (though less in number) escape with the item, and are being pursued
These all follow up with various skill challenges: interrogation, necromancy/interrogation (make sure someone knows Speak with Dead), pursuit, or dealing with the Law. After these challenges, the outcomes are as follows
-The thieves have the item, and have escaped
-The characters have the item, and have no leads
-The characters have the item, and have leads
-The characters are in police custody
Also, are you using pregen characters, or are the players making them?
The latter.
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Originally Posted by AeonWalker
So, lets flowchart it.
Wow, that is really helpful. Thank you very much!
Fortunately or unfortunately, it looks like we're down to two players this week and our regular DM pulled his "no Eberron in my house!" veto, so I don't have to have it done this week. I still can't get it out of my head, mind you, so I'm not going to stop working on it. Too sleep-deprived today to think about it any more, but I'll have a post of some sort tomorrow.
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