From the Journal of Breyten Tullier, Part 1

The party has been searching for the journal of Breyten Tullier, the explorer who first found the Siberys Pandect and hid it shortly before his death. Nevitash, Professor Burch's assistant, found the journal, but someone tore out several pages and delivered them to the city of Karrlakton. The party is now there looking for the torn-out pages, which will reveal where Breyten hid the Pandect. As we wait for game to resume in a few weeks, I'll be posting on the blog other pages from his journal, explaining how he came to find the Pandect in the first place.

(The first twenty pages of Breyten Tullier's journal describe the adventurer putting together a team for an expedition to the southern continent of Xen'drik at the request of a patron named Lord ir'Dayne, who has a map to ancient elven ruins. He hires Levini, his sister; Fianin, a Valenar elf warrior; Grinder, a warforged artificer; and Annaka, a dwarf priest and member of House Kundarak. They set sail for Xen'drik and after some traveling mishaps, find the ruins, which contain several ancient treasures. The Siberys Pandect is not mentioned until the following entry, as they start sailing back to the mainland.)

5 Dravago (May 5), 988 YK

Olladra grace our voyage! Lord ir'Dayne's map was right on the money — ancient elven ruins not four days' walk from Stormreach, and only a few dullard giants standing guard. Fianin has already claimed a magical totem for himself; he claims it belonged to one of his famed ancestors, Most Feared General Such-and-such, but every Valenar elf claims to be descended from a "mighty warrior," so I take it with a grain of salt. Grinder is looking for ancient docents to fit into his mechanical frame. Annaka's dragonmark glows every time she appraises another gem. Me, I'm eager to cash in my share and see the family in Fairhaven. The only one who doesn't look happy is Levini — I think she's eager to get back to the action and hold back those silver blighters in Thrane. Not me — I've served my time with Aundair, and as far as I'm concerned, the war's over for me. Still, she does appear to like the orb we found — really more of an oval than a sphere, but I'll save the semantics for the warforged.

Annaka says the giant gold dragonshard we found in the trap door should fetch a sizable price to any of the dragonmarked houses, although I think she's planning to slip it to Kundarak first chance she gets, and I've noticed Fianin eyeing it too. Something that big could power any number of eldritch devices or rituals, and I worry someone's going to try to steal it for themselves. I'm just glad Lord ir'Dayne said any dragonshards we found were ours to keep. For safe keeping, I think it's best that Levini hold onto it. Sister's got a safe deposit box at the dwarf banks that even Annaka can't touch — lets her keep her personal effects close by no matter where the Royal Eyes send her.

July 11 recap

•The group arrives at the mansion of Jahanah Drocin, but the party doesn't go as planned.

•The group learns that Jahanah Drocin plans to find the Siberys Pandect to open a new manifest zone to Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, allowing new aberrations to spill forth into Eberron.

•The group finds the torn-out journal pages detailing the location of the Siberys Pandect while escaping.

Laharal goes to the factory management headquarters to negotiate for better workers' rights for the warforged, but he finds the facility heavily guarded, and no warforged in sight. Investigating further, he finds that most of the warforged protesters, including Captain Longspear, have been arrested.

The party decides to interrogate the dragon they captured about her precognitive paintings. They specifically ask her about the painting of Mika holding what looks like the Siberys Pandect — where was she, why her, why no one else in the painting. The dragon admits that she only painted the exact moment the Pandect was found, and that the Draconic Prophecy says the party's finding the Pandect is a foretold event that will have serious ramifications. The dragon is unrepentant and admits that if released, she'll continue her primitive soothsaying and keep killing more dragonmarked soldiers, so the party decides to execute her (and does so). The party removes some of her scales, as well as her brain, to preserve for future rituals.

The group starts getting ready for the party with Professor Jewell at the mansion of Jahanah Drocin, who they believe has the torn-out journal pages revealing the hidden location of the Siberys Pandect. Jewell will accompany them, as will his grad student, an egocentric (yet stunning handsome, especially to Meva) spellcaster named Harv Ei. They hide their weapons and armor and get going.

The group arrives at the mansion of Jahanah Drocin, a foreboding and closed-off property. After letting the group in through the gate, the dwarven butler directs Professor Jewell to the library while sending the other guests to the observatory.

As they walk down the long, winding hallway to the observatory, Amahndar recites a long sermon of the Silver Flame while Mika looks for things to steal. However, after a while, the party realizes they don't seem any closer to their destination than before, and Laharal and Mika realize they've walked more than the entire length of the mansion! Something freaky is definitely going on, and Laharal realizes that reality isn't working correctly.

To investigate how the hallway is functioning oddly, Mika tries to open the doors, only to find they don't open, then smashes a nearby vase (which breaks normally). The rest of the party puts 2 and 2 together (especially once Amahndar finishes his long recitation), and tries to further figure a way out of their predicament. Mika and Meva try to walk in opposite directions, only to see that no matter how far they walk, they never leave each other's line of sight.

Laharal's finely tuned sense of the arcane finds no illusions, and he detects that the magic required for such a feat would be aberrant in nature; reality's not made to bend that way. It would take enormous magical power to change reality so strongly too, possibly an artifact or a planar manifest zone (a place where a plane's energy "touches" Eberron). Thinking back to what he knows about history, he remembers that the ancient goblin empire that was invaded by the plane of Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, did stretch up as high as Karrnath; the mansion is in a manifest zone to Xoriat (a very troubling prospect, as the dimensional seals the shardminds were tasked with guarding are supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening!)

Mika uses her dagger to cut through the hallway wall, revealing another room behind. This room appears to be a library — bookshelves line the walls, a table contains open journals, and a large planar orrery sits in the middle of the room (a device charting the movement of the planes around Eberron). As the party approaches the table, the device springs to life and the planes start spinning around Eberron — at the same time, psychic energy draws the party in toward the orrery, while the spinning planets knock them back, creating a dangerous yo-yo effect. Deciding to try to smash the machine, the party eventually destroys it, and it explodes, falling through the library floor and revealing an underground tunnel below.

Before entering the tunnel, the party grabs some books, uses its Exodus Knife to create an extradimensional space to rest in, and reads the open journals on the desk. They detail a complex ritual that uses a large dragonshard to create a new manifest zone, opening a gateway between Eberron and another plane. The party deduces that Jahanah Drocin plans to use the Siberys Dragonshard not for the knowledge it contains, but to open a new portal to Xoriat and bring new, terrifying aberrations into Eberron.

The underground tunnel leads through some caves. Laharal hears strange creatures ahead of them, but the party is moving too loudly, and when the caves emerge into a wine cellar, a group of foulspawn is ready for them. A pitched melee ensues — Mika and Meva use wine bottles as improvised clubs while smaller foulspawn daze the party and a chuul and a foul, hulking giant pound at Amahndar. Eventually, though, after a long and bloody fight, the foulspawn are beaten to a pulp and the party advances out of the wine cellar, and climbing a staircase, the party finds itself in the kitchen, where they find the journal pages they seek. They quickly grab them and prepare to make their escape.

DM's notes:

• I'm rewinding the ending a bit, because I rushed the ending I'd originally had in mind because the game ended so late. So you guys haven't left the mansion *yet*.

July 3 recap

The party has gone their separate ways for the night; Amahndar is in the temple of the Silver Flame, Alyosha is out harassing people with his personal doomsayer, and Mevakri meets up with Professor Jewell again (in hopes of learning the Dance of the Druids herself) before wandering around.

A dwarf swordmage, Ruton Ironblade, arrives at the temple with a House Deneith representative to talk to the senior Silver Flame priest about hiring some mercenaries for important work: something has been killing House Deneith soldiers and dragging them into the sewers. All of the dead had dragonmarks. Amahndar agrees to help track down the foul creature, and he goes out to recruit the rest of his party. (Alyosha tries to have Urik haunt Ruton, but Ruton is underwhelmed.) Mika is in the gutter, however, and Laharal is nowhere to be found (though the party does see many warforged being rounded up and arrested). Amahndar convinces Alyosha and Mevakri to join him and Ruton in searching the sewers.

The House Deneith rep leaves them to their job, and the group enters the sewers and soon spots some boot tracks on the muddy ledges. Ruton points out that whatever is down there is probably making its lair further upstream, so they go against the flow to continue their search. All of a sudden, Amahndar has a brief moment of insanity and starts speaking to a rat, pressing it for answers about anybody it might've seen nearby. The party is stunned by this uncharacteristic behavior, but he soon snaps out of it and has no memory of the incident.

Pressing on, the party soon finds the source of the boot tracks — an impoverished tiefling who is also rambling about gloom and doom; he warns that a terrifying demon has risen forth from the Mournland, and the Prophecy is finished. Surprised that the tiefling knows about the Prophecy, Alyosha presses him for more information, but the tiefling speaks only more platitudes about the end of the world. (During this conversation, Meva starts speaking to a cockroach, acting as though it's the most ordinary thing in the world in her own moment of insanity.) The tiefling says he knows of the creature that's been killing dragonmarked people and says he'll lead them to its lair; Amahndar senses that the tiefling knows more than he's saying, but fails to intimidate him into revealing more.

The tiefling leads them through the sewers to an illusory wall, which he walks through, revealing a tunnel. All along the walls are sigils of the Draconic Prophecy, and when the party looks closer, they realize they're enscribed in bodily humours — very disturbing, to say the least. When they get to the end of the tunnel, they emerge into an open room, where robed cultists stand ready and a woman recognizes the party (though not Ruton), saying she's been using the entrails of dragonmarked soldiers to try to divine the future and foresaw the party's exploits. She admits that she's a scholar of the Draconic Prophecy who believed the Mourning was the end of the Prophecy, so she turned to "the old ways" to look for answers.

Amahndar orders the woman to surrender, but she changes into the form of a bronze dragon and attacks. A melee breaks out, with the tiefling revealing that he worked for the dragon as well, drawing a dagger and hurling magic at the party. The party makes short work of the cultists and the tiefling (although Alyosha is badly wounded during the fight), and decides that rather than kill the dragon, they'll take it alive for questioning. They knock it unconscious and haul it out of the muck.

The party then examines the room, finding a powerful magical knife (an exodus knife, capable of creating extradimensional spaces) and two scrolls of the Remove Affliction ritual. On the walls are many strange drawings. One wall has a crude painting of Mika holding a large dragonshard (presumably the Siberys Pandect), while another holds an expanded painting of Alyosha's dragonmark grown to enormous size. The third wall holds a verse of the Draconic Prophecy, which Alyosha helpfully translates:

A dream of flame, a pure flame

A dream of darkness, a dire darkness

Burn away the black

A champion of light, goodness and light

Agents of death, corruption and death

Shadow threatens hope

Companions to ally against the forebearers

Distant kin and foul entities joined

The coming conflict

Two children of three worlds, a knife in the dark

An army of the unliving, an unbidden curse

The dreamer awakens in shadow.

The party concludes that its quest for the Siberys Pandect is foretold by the Draconic Prophecy, but to what end is unclear; the verses are vague, but appear to refer directly to the party.

June 19 recap

The party arrived in Vedykar, where they would switch off the train for a trade caravan that would take them the rest of the way. As they departed, they saw Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien hauled off in chains (and unconscious) by House Orien guards.

The caravan leader greatly discounts the party's cost of travel by having them scout ahead for the caravan, watching for wandering monsters and things of that nature. One day away from their destination, Karrlakton, Amahndar spots bulette tracks — commonly known as the "land shark" — and realizes they'll have to draw out the beast for the caravan to safely pass. Alyosha "bravely" volunteers to go first, and as soon as they move forward, the bulette leaps from the ground beneath them. Alyosha teleports away to avoid the attack, and the bulette leaps to attack Amahndar instead — rending him with his claws and turning the paladin into a tin can.

The party quickly moves to surround the beast, but it unleashes a wave of bad breath (tainted by a recent undead meal) and burrows underground to recuperate, before emerging to chase its original prey, Alyosha. Still, the party repeatedly cripples its defenses, and Alyosha goes so far as to blind it. The bulette tries to limp away, but Laharal blasts it with a mind thrust, killing it. Examining the corpse finds that the bulette recently ate another adventuring party, yielding some coins and magic items.

The party arrives in Karrlakton, and Mevakri immediately sets about making inquiries about Jahanah Drocin (who they believe has the torn-out pages that tell where the Pandect is). She's a well-known noblewoman in town, and her estate is heavily defended, but she is hosting a gala event tomorrow night. The party conspires to get into the party — Mevakri and Mika buy fancy new dresses to help them look the part. Mevakri also receives a telepathic message sent by Professor Burch, telling them he's in Zilargo doing research and they should contact Professor Jewell, who's in town and can help them.

Having a solid lead now, and with the party not for another night, the party goes their separate ways for the rest of the day:

• Laharal hears that the warforged factory workers are on strike, because the dwarves get more pay and more breaks. This is a perfect opportunity for him to increase his political power and strike a blow for construct rights. He goes to meet with the warforged and proposes that instead of going on strike, they should work to negotiate — otherwise, the factories can just hire more warforged. He wins their respect and arranges to meet with factory leaders the next morning (well before the Drocin party). He also picks an emissary, Captain Longspear, a warforged who commanded troops during the Last War, to act as his spokesman. Still, there's some uncertainty about how the talks will go — Karrnath is a monarchy, and much more "law and order" than the other nations, so they may not react well to the idea of a warforged union.
• Mevakri, having purchased a fancy dress (as well as a dagger to hide on her person) and dyed her hair to blend in better, goes to meet with Professor Jewell, who's staying at one of the schools in town. She finds him with a group of grad students dissecting corpses they've recovered from the Mournland — it's a scientific curiosity that the people there died more than 4 years ago, but they're still warm and haven't even rotted a little yet. Jewell is more of a long-haired hippie-type of professor than Burch, but he's glad to meet Mevakri and says he can get them into the party, as he's got an invitation too. Mevakri explains how they're looking for the Pandect and they believe Jahanah Drocin's got the notes they need, and Jewell agrees to help them find the notes — he can do "the ceremonial dance of the Eldeen druids" at the party to distract the other attendees.
• Mika walks around town with Gunther and looks for things to steal, but finds most of the valuables are kept under heavy guard. She goes to the tavern adjacent to the inn where the party is staying, and proceeds to get rip-roaringly drunk. She also learns many tips about weapons maintenance from the factory workers before stumbling back to her room and feeling awful.
• Knowing that Karrlakton is the most religiously tolerant city in Karrnath, Amahndar finds the recently built temple of the Silver Flame, where he spots a poster calling for adventurers to help defend against strange Mournland creatures. An elderly priest explains that the temple was built in the past few years, not long after the Mourning, and that lately, the city has been attacked a few times by horrific warforged with stitched-on undead flesh. Amahndar has heard of such creatures before in his work defending Thrane's border, and agrees to help; he also generously tithes to the temple.
• Alyosha goes to the arts district to take in a show, but is accosted by an old man who accuses him of bearing "the mark of death" and warns that "the Mourning has destroyed the Prophecy." Alyosha, taken by his warnings of doom, invites him along to the shindig at the Drocin estate tomorrow night, but the old man backs away and refuses to go. Alyosha then decides to spread around some of his treasure from the bulette kill, and purchases food for the Cyran refugees who live in town. He then decides that having a doomsayer of his own at the party will be a big hit, so he recruits another one to warn about "the unholy truth of the Mournland."
• Alyosha goes to the temple with Urik, his personal prophet of doom, and decides to tease Amahndar by having Urik relentlessly preach to him. However, Amahndar resolutely maintains that the Silver Flame will protect against "the mists that will devour us all," and Urik, not used to being reasoned with and talked to, eventually backs off. Alyosha then tries to send Yorick to harass the elderly priest, but the priest merely blasts the flying skull with a blast of holy light.
• Alyosha then goes to the inn where the party is staying, where he sends Urik to harass Mevakri. He warns her about "the unholy truth of the Mournland," but she fools him into thinking she's already on board about it and totally believes in his dire warnings of apocalypse. Alyosha's a little disappointed he couldn't fool his comrades so easily.

Primer: Karrlakton

Population: 66,000 (78% humans, 8% dwarves, 6% warforged, 3% halfling, 5% other)

Main landmarks: Sentinel Tower, Cyre River

Primary exports: Weapons, armor

The second-biggest city in Karrnath, Karrlakton is built around Sentinel Tower, the main enclave of House Deneith, the dragonmarked house that is Khorvaire's foremost provider of bodyguards and mercenaries. The tower is older than Karrnath itself, and it serves as the headquarters of the Sentinel Marshals (a guild focused on tracking down criminals), as well as a fortification against the Mournland. The Deneith scions use their gifts to help defend the city.

As the city sits across the river from Cyre, the Mournland is right on Karrlakton's doorstep — the gray-mist curtain dominates the horizon — and House Deneith is kept plenty busy fighting the strange creatures that wander out of the wasteland. In the wake of the Mourning, many people fled the city for safer haven elsewhere. Conversely, many prophets, doomsayers, and apocalyptic priests have brought unwanted attention to the city, loudly proclaiming the impending doom across the river.

Though trade is dwindling, the city is home to many warforged and dwarves who work in Karrlakton's famed weapons and armor factories, or lend their construction talents to augmenting the city's fortifications. A large number of Cyrans who fled the Mourning have set up roots here as well, although they are not well-liked by the native Karrnathi. Most people either live in the well-defended upper-class neighborhoods or take their chances on the cheap riverfront property that was abandoned after the Mourning.

Karrlakton is the closest any city in Karrnath gets to being tolerant of the Silver Flame. Although there's no love lost between Karrnath and Thrane, the success of that church's templars in helping repel invaders from the Mournland on the front lines has proven invaluable, and there is a begrudging peace between the Silver Flame and the city government. That the city is primarily defended by House Deneith and not the Karrnathi army no doubt helps their relations, as there are few to zero Karrnathi undead in Karrlakton.

May 23 recap, and The Secret Origin of Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien

The party arrives in Krona Peak (via Alyosha's discounted teleportation spell), does a little shopping for magic items (Laharal picking up a nice bag of holding, while Amahndar finds a superb shield), and picks up their train tickets to Vedykar. While boarding the train, Mika spots two dwarves loading a lockbox into the cargo hold and gets some ideas, while Amahndar sees a fresh young paladin of the Silver Flame who'll be riding in steerage, and they exchange hellos. Alyosha mocks the paladin's beliefs before slipping onto the train. Laharal is handed a pamphlet by a warforged, called The Machine Manifesto.

The train takes off once they're all aboard. Amahndar prays to the Silver Flame, Mevakri sleeps soundly, and Laharal reads the pamphlet, finding that he empathizes with the notion of "construct rights," so he goes into steerage to talk to the warforged more about it. The warforged says that their messiah, the Lord of Blades, will help them build a sovereign nation of their own, but Laharal says that they should use less aggressive, more diplomatic means to ensure their rights.

Mika sneaks into the cargo hold past the two dwarven guards and finds the lockbox. Inside is a very shiny ring, and she sneaks it back to her cabin. Laharal identifies it as being nonmagical, but it is made out of pure mithril, making it extremely valuable. Mika explores some more in steerage and ends up talking to a young noblewoman named Miss Nagel, who is traveling to "slum it" and visit Karrnath for the summer season.

Alyosha goes into steerage to see what's going on, and the young paladin is exhaustively preaching to the other passengers — mostly commoners — about the Silver Flame, despite his audience's indifference. Alyosha decides to put the paladin in his place and sends Yorick, his skull familiar, to claim to be an "evil spirit." The paladin draws his sword and destroys Yorick (though he emerges again a few minutes later in Alyosha's pack).

Mevakri also goes into steerage to see the other passengers, and also meets up with Miss Nagel. As they're both interested in what each other has to say, they end up having dinner together in Meva's quarters, where Miss Nagel shares nobles' gossip and fashion tips. Amahndar goes to steerage to talk to the paladin, who introduces himself as Zoder, who's on a crusade to evangelize to Karrnath. Noticing that Zoder's good-natured zeal is alienating him, Amahndar shares a parable about church bells; they're used as warnings for villages, but when they don't stop ringing, people learn to tune them out. Zoder takes this under advisement and thanks Amahndar for his counsel.

After dinner, a dwarf crewman and a warforged crewman go door to door in the cabins, asking about suspicious characters; they recognize Alyosha's dragonmark and tell him that a valuable ring has gone missing from the cargo hold. Alyosha agrees to help find the ring, and helps the crewmen interview the passengers. Laharal passes him the bag of holding (which contains the ring), and Alyosha "finds it" in the chamberpot. The ring is successfully returned to its place in the cargo hold, and Alyosha warns the rest of the party to watch itself, especially as the guards are suspicious now.

An hour later, Meva is keeping tabs on Mika, knowing that she took the ring, so she'll stay out of trouble. The conductor gets on the comm to tell everybody that the train will be stopping momentarily for repairs, but Amahndar and Alyosha are suspicious — the engine sounded fine. The conductor — a human with an Orien dragonmark, who Alyosha recognizes but can't place — the dwarf, and the warforged are heading toward the cargo hold, and now most everybody is suspicious — why go to the cargo hold if the engine is having trouble?

The party follows the crew to the cargo hold, and they notice there's an airship docked next to the stopped train. As the conductor tries to lock the door behind him, Amahndar sticks his foot in the door, and the crew draws weapons — the conductor a warhammer and the warforged a longsword. The dwarf grabs the lockbox. A combat breaks out, with Amahndar attempting to arrest the crew while the party provides support. When Mevakri reaches the hold, however, she calls for diplomacy — they don't have much of a quarrel with the crew except for them trying to steal the ring (which most of them can't feel too sorry about, since they tried to before anyway), and it's not really their fight. Amahndar, however, disagrees, because they're stealing something that's not theirs and they're bound by law.

The dwarf scrambles to the roof, but Alyosha's spells knock him out cold, and Mika scrambles to take out the newly arrived airship crew (an eladrin girl and a female archer are now on the open roof). The conductor parleys for him and his crew to leave the ring behind and just go on their way, but Amahndar's not having it, especially as he's got them on the ropes. Mevakri, however, doesn't want to fight (unless Amahndar gets more hurt — then she'll fight to defend him), but she will provide healing and support.

Finally, the conductor reveals himself, when Alyosha asks who he is — Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien, a House Orien traitor who blew up a train — and agrees to surrender, including the dwarf and the warforged. The eladrin and archer board their airship and take off. In steerage, Amahndar charges Zoder to guard the handcuffed Kaleb, and the ring is safely held onto. As the train needs someone with the Mark of Passage to pilot it, Alyosha drives it the rest of the way.

After the battle, Mika notices that her dagger is missing — it didn't fall off during combat, so where is it? She goes back to Miss Nagel, who is acting very suspiciously but won't give up the location. Finally, Mika notices extra pockets in her formal dress and realizes she's a pickpocket. Mika "seduces" Miss Nagel to come back to her room, then grabs the dagger (and the dress) and bodily hurls her off the train.

The Secret Origin of Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien

I meant to have a Streetwise check to know more details about who Kaleb is after his identity was revealed, but forgot to do so. Since Mevakri is so well-trained in Streetwise, I'll just reveal everything about him:

Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien was a smuggler for House Orien — officially, they don't exist, but they're an open secret in the house itself, because the Mark of Passage makes it easy to sneak things from one place to another (especially when you control most of the means of transportation). As such, he learned plenty of tricks of the trade and was a good and faithful member of House Orien during the Last War.

However, about 7 years ago, a train in Aundair on its way to Thaliost was derailed and most of the passengers aboard were killed, and Kaleb was identified as being responsible. The city of Thaliost used to belong to Aundair until being captured by Thrane about 70 years ago, and as such the native Aundairians, to this day, still resent Thrane taking over. The archbishop of Thaliost is known for using excessive force on the resistance movements there (which definitely doesn't help things). Kaleb's originally from Aundair — farm boy born and raised — and the train he destroyed had aboard a contingent of orcs, trolls, medusas, all kinds of monstrous mercenaries ordered up by the archbishop to help wipe out the rebels.

Kaleb was captured by House Orien, but escaped before he could be excoriated (a punishment for traitors to dragonmarked houses where the house will destroy the dragonmark by flaying the skin), and since then he's been on the run. Aundair, Thrane, and House Orien all have bounties posted for his arrest, but he's managed to avoid everyone who's come after him — mostly because of his in-depth knowledge of secret smuggling routes and underworld contacts.

May 16 recap

Having captured Kif, the changeling auctioneer, the party forces him to lead them to the ship they use to ship prisoners. Kif leads them to the ship, a small, inelegant cog meant for short trips. The captain and crew are not around, so the party decides to take the ship themselves. Deciding not to leave him behind, Meva and Mika tie him up to use as collateral (with Gunther, Mika's dog, guarding him).

As they sail toward the fog-shrouded island of Trebaz Sinara to find Nevitash, they are quickly disoriented by the thick cover and have a hard time plotting their course. Meva takes the helm, having captained her own ship before, but even she is having difficulty navigating when she can't see well. Amahndar wisely uses his sunblade to help illuminate the path, and Alyosha cheerleads the crew on, but the ship quickly finds itself lost with no clear direction to go.

As the party examines its options, Laharal and Meva spot another ship approaching, and the party decides to hide in the cabins (while Mika takes the crow's nest) so the ship appears abandoned (and the other ship won't fire on them right away). Sure enough, the other ship docks with the party's ship, and aboard comes a group of rotting zombies, two elf archers, and an elf in skull facepaint. Seeing the zombies, Amahndar immediately charges out of his hiding space and attacks the zombies, and the party soon joins in the attack: Mika hurls her shuriken from the crow's nest, Alyosha teleports around the ships to snipe at the attackers, and Laharal and Meva fight off a pair of ghouls that sneak around to flank the party and attempt to drag them underwater. The ghouls and zombies are destroyed and hurled overboard, the two elf archers are killed, and the elf in skull facepaint is knocked unconscious (as the party wants him alive to interrogate). On the deck of the attacking ship is an altar to the Blood of Vol, which Amahndar and Alyosha promptly hurl overboard, and the party divides up the loot.

Going below decks on the Bloodsail ship, they find six people in chains, most of whom have clearly not eaten or been taken care of in some time. Among them is Nevitash, who Amahndar and Meva nurse back to health; most of the others are dead, so Amahndar gives a quick prayer to the Silver Flame and gives them a burial at sea. Rather than take Kif and the unconscious elf back to Port Verge with them, the party decides to take the Bloodsail ship for themselves, leaving Kif and the elf on their old ship to find their way back (giving them at least a fighting chance, instead of outright killing them or turning them over to the authorities). Kif argues that this is tantamount to murder, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. The party changes out the sails — as the crimson red sails of the Bloodsail ship would not be welcome in port — and heads back to Port Verge, eventually navigating through the fog and arriving back in town.

Nevitash says he did win the journal at the auction, and it's back in his room at a dingy inn — he put there before he was waylaid. The party goes to his room, only to find it ransacked. Nevitash searches the room and finds the journal, but half the pages have been ripped out. When the party asks what was on those pages, Nevitash admits he doesn't know — he hadn't finished reading before going out that night. Meva asks around the inn patrons, and it turns out Nevitash's room was broken into a few days ago. The party asks the innkeeper, and he says there were two men nosing around the room after it was broken into — local minstrels, by the looks of it.

The party decides to sleep for the night before investigating the next day. Mika arranges for a House Phiarlan artist to provide a sketch of the suspects, while Meva asks around town about musicians. Most of the local musicians are involved in crime, as it pays pretty well, but there's two brothers by the docks who recently came into some money. Alyosha goes to the House Tharashk post to hire an inquisitive to find out about the minstrels for him. A world-weary half-orc agrees to take his case to find out who took the pages from the journal.

The party meets up again to go after the minstrels that Meva found, with Mika's sketches in hand. There they find the brother musicians, performing on lutes as their trained falcons do tricks. Mika starts polishing her shuriken (i.e. lifting up her skirt some) while Amahndar asks nicely where they got their recent good fortunes from. Entranced by the view under Mika's skirt, the musicians have no problem revealing they were hired by a middleman to steal the pages out of the journal and put them in a safe deposit box in the local House Kundarak bank. They even helpfully provide the number of the box.

At the bank, Amahndar uses his aura of authority to inquire to the teller about who owns that particular box (with Meva acting as his secretary, Laharal as his owned golem, Alyosha as his entourage, and Mika as his slave girl/bodyguard). The dwarf teller informs him it belongs to Jahanah Drocin, a noblewoman who lives in Karrlakton, Karrnath, but she's unable to say what, if anything, is still in the box (bank policy).

As Jahanah Drocin is their only lead, and at Professor Burch's behest, the party sells their Bloodsail ship for a hefty profit and uses a portion of the money to fund a House Orien teleportation spell (thankfully halved because of Alyosha's membership discount) to Krona Peak (the nearest House Orien station), from which they can take a lightning rail to Vedykar and from there catch a caravan to Karrlakton and continue their search.

DM's Notes:

•Next D&D game I'm in, I'm definitely playing a world-weary half-orc detective.

•Though he didn't do anything super-noteworthy, Yorick the bat-winged skull makes his hilarious debut as Max's familiar.

•I checked the map and my books again and the lightning rail will go as far as Vedykar, not Vulyar (which shaves a few days off the journey).

Primer: The Secret History of the Shardminds

Tim's character race, the Shardmind, is brand-new in the Player's Handbook 3, and was not around when the Eberron campaign setting was first created. As a race of sentient crystalline creatures held together by pure will, they're also something that doesn't fit easily into the Eberron setting (especially as their background in the PHB3 isn't compatible with the Eberron setting, and there's been no official material on how to work Shardminds into Eberron). I've written up a background for the Shardmind race in Eberron (I'll have one up soon for the kalashtar, just to clear up any discrepancies).

The information known here is not widely known in Eberron — it'd be about a DC 25 or 30 History check — but as Tim is a shardmind, I'm publishing it for the party's benefit.

Nineteen thousand years ago, long before humans set foot on Khorvaire, the Dhakaani Empire ruled the continent. A coalition of goblin and orc tribes, their domain stretched from the Shadow Marches all the way to what is now the Mror Holds. The Dhakaani Empire ruled for more than ten thousand years, and their strength of numbers protected them from external threats.

The Dhakaani Empire faced a serious threat about 9,000 years ago when Xoriat, the Plane of Madness, aligned with Eberron. Many portals opened in the Shadow Marches, and aberrations of a million varieties poured forth to invade Khorvaire. The goblin armies were no match for rampaging beholders, mind flayers, aboleths, and more.

The Gatekeepers, a sect of orc druids, used their primal powers to help the goblins hold their own, summoning animal and elemental reinforcements to help drive back the aberrations. Similarly, some goblins, exposed to the reality-warping powers of the Realm of Madness, developed a taint that turned their skin blue but unlocked their psionic potential, and these "blues" helped counter the mental powers of the minions of Xoriat.

Still, attrition took its toll, and soon the Gatekeepers and blues were reduced to a fraction of their strength and desperate to contain the encroaching madness. Desperate for new allies, the Gatekeepers used powerful nature magic to give life to their caches of dragonshards, and the blues bestowed the newborn shardminds with psionic resistances to better fight psychic attack. The shardminds displayed a natural affinity for psionic abilities, and they quickly joined their creators in repelling the aberrations. The rituals used to create the shardminds bound their spirits to Eberron itself; when one shardmind fell in battle, a new one was born somewhere in the Shadow Marches.

Finally, the aberration invasion was repelled when the Gatekeepers built dimensional seals around the Xoriat manifest zones — magically engraved monoliths that prevented teleportation and planar travel, and kept Xoriat permanently at bay. As long as the dimensional seals stood, the Realm of Madness would never again touch Eberron. The remaining aberrations retreated into the underground realm of Khyber. The Gatekeepers, recognizing the shardminds were effectively self-replenishing, charged them with defending the dimensional seals.

The Dhakaani never truly recovered from their war with Xoriat, and eventually they turned to infighting and fell into ruin. Through it all, the rather single-minded shardminds tirelessly guarded the seals and helped the Gatekeepers in seeking out lingering aberrations. Though the goblins and orcs devolved back into primitive tribes, the shardminds continued their eternal vigil.

In the modern day, the shardminds continue to guard the dimensional seals and seek out aberrations, but their numbers have dwindled. The Shadow Marches still bear the scars of war, and their sacred mission remains as important as ever. As the Gatekeepers have declined over the millennia, the rituals that give life to shardminds have been lost. Though the shardminds remain in the same perpetual cycle of death and rebirth, the centuries have shown that sufficiently powerful magic can permanently reduce their numbers, and their ranks have been reduced as aberrations grow bolder and attack the surface.

Shardminds live for about a human lifespan before the energy that binds them together weakens. When a shardmind dies, the new one that is created shares a sort of racial memory — they know their charge to defend the dimensional seals, and they all carry a natural deference to the Gatekeeper druids and hatred for aberrations — but has a new personality and no memories of its past life, making it a distinct individual. They still retain their psychic defenses and strength of will bestowed upon them during the Xoriat invasion.

Most shardminds stay in the Shadow Marches, and as such they are rarely seen elsewhere in Eberron — as dragonshards are useful for the creation of magic items, more than one artificer has killed a shardmind for the "spare parts." Still, some decide that the best way to protect the seals and fight aberrations is to venture forth and accumulate power in other ways.

Primer: Recent Timeline of Eberron

Here's a timeline of the recent history of Eberron, going back to within your lifetimes (or things that are common knowledge). I picked only the biggest events:

104 years ago

•King Jarot, last ruler of Galifar, dies. His five children disagree on the rite of succession; Mishann, queen of Cyre, is the oldest, but she is opposed by Thalin, Kaius I, and Wroann of Thrane, Karrnath, and Breland, respectively, while Wrogar of Aundair sides with Mishann. When Mishann arrives at Thronehold for her coronation, she finds the island blockaded by her siblings' navies. After a short battle, Mishann escapes. Diplomacy fails, and the siblings begin fighting amongst themselves over who should sit on the throne. The Last War begins.

84 years ago

•The Mror Holds split off from Karrnath.

•Thalin, king of Thrane, dies. The Church of the Silver Flame uses the opportunity to take control of the nation and depose the aristocracy.

42 years ago

•Elf mercenaries annex southeast Cyre and declare the sovereignty of the elf nation of Valenar.

40 years ago

•The Eldeen Reaches declares itself an independent nation from Aundair.

33 years ago

•House Cannith perfects the modern-era warforged and begins mass-producing them.

29 years ago

•Hobgoblin mercenaries annex southwest Cyre and create the goblinoid nation of Darguun.

26 years ago

•House Thuranni splits from House Phiarlan.

11 years ago

•A trio of hags called the Daughters of Sora Kell arrives in Droaam with an army of trolls, ogres, and gnolls. Breland pulls its forces back, and the Daughters declare the sovereignty of the monster nation of Droaam.

8 years ago

•House Lyrandar puts its first elemental airships into service.

5 years ago

•6-year-old Jaela Daran assumes the power of the Keeper of the Silver Flame, becoming the spiritual leader of the Church of the Silver Flame and the political leader of Thrane (though in practice, the Council of Cardinals oversees most affairs of church and state).

4 years ago

•In an unprecedented magical event called the Mourning, Cyre is destroyed. Survivors report seeing a flash of bright light in the city of Making, and a dead-grey mist spreads out from the city to encompass the nation's borders, killing everyone in its path. Compounding the tragedy, the hatreds of the Last War lead many of Cyre's neighbors to refuse aid to the refugees; the elves of Valenar and the goblins of Darguun treat the refugees as invaders, killing them as they ran.

2 years ago

•As the nations are too shaken by the events of the Mourning to continue fighting, the Treaty of Thronehold officially ends the Last War, though tensions from a hundred years of fighting remain.

•Cyre is no longer recognized as a sovereign nation; Breland grants the survivors a small patch of land called New Cyre.

•As part of the treaty, House Cannith is ordered to destroy all creation forges, and all warforged are emancipated and granted the rights of sentient beings.

Now

•The party is assembled by Professor Burch of Morgrave University to search for the Siberys Pandect.

Primer: Dragonmarks, the Draconic Prophecy, and the Houses

The dragons have always believed that at the dawn of time (yes, we're going back that far to explain dragonmarks), the world was ruled by the progenitor wyrms. The three most powerful — Siberys, Eberron, and Khyber — discovered or created the Draconic Prophecy. What the Prophecy is is a matter of great debate among dragons, though they can agree on one thing: it guides the destiny of the world. The three dragons fought, shattering the world into three parts and scattering the Prophecy across existence. In the end, Siberys became the sky that surrounds the world (the Dragon Above), Khyber was bound to the darkest depths (the Dragon Below), and Eberron healed the world between by becoming one with it. Siberys created the next generation of dragons, Khyber created the fiends, and Eberron created all other living things.

Over the following millenia, the dragons rediscovered the Prophecy and began collecting fragments to try to understand the world around them. Fragments of the Prophecy appear all across the world, in the skies, on the sides of mountains or the walls of caves, just about anywhere. Dragons learned to read the alignment of the moons and stars to try to find more of the Prophecy. There is no one source of the Prophecy; while several individual dragons may have amassed a wealth of Prophecy lore, they're not inclined to share it. Furthermore, nobody can agree on what the Prophecy is; does it portend doom for the world, or transformation, or what exactly?

For untold millenia, signs of the Prophecy only appeared on the earth or in the skies above, but three thousand years ago, the dragons were shocked to find it appearing on a new template: the lesser races. What this means for the Prophecy, the dragons can't decide, but for now, they are taking a "wait and see" approach. (It bears noting that dragons themselves never manifest dragonmarks, despite the name.)

The dragonmarks granted power over particular areas of magic above and beyond what simple spells were capable of. Over time, those who possessed dragonmarks founded dynasties and amassed power for themselves, particularly those who had the 12 most common dragonmarks. The 12 primary marks are particular to races and families and are mostly hereditary — Detection (half-elf), Finding (half-orc and human), Handling (human), Healing (halflings), Hospitality (halfling), Making (human), Passage (human), Scribing (gnome), Sentinel (human), Shadow (elf), Storm (half-elf), Warding (dwarf).

However, besides the primary 12 dragonmarks, there used to be many who carried "aberrant" marks that held unpredictable power. The aberrant marks have no clear lineage and can appear on members of any race. As their power is unknown, many of them are referred to as "children of Khyber" and thought of with superstition. 1,500 years ago, fear of aberrant marks grew so great that the dragonmarked houses launched a campaign, the War of the Mark, to eliminate aberrant marks from Eberron. While this sounds like a one-sided campaign, by this point aberrant marks had grown so powerful that some were able to create earthquakes or summon plagues by mere force of will, and so this was believed to be for the good of the world. Indeed, the final battle of the War of the Mark ended with the aberrants destroying Sharn.

The War of the Mark solidified the power of the dragonmarked houses and drove aberrant dragonmarks underground. Aberrant marks still exist to this day, but they are not as powerful as they once were, and most superstition about them has long since faded. However, still worried about aberrant marks, the dragonmarked houses have forbidden interbreeding between houses, as they fear creating new marks.

The dragonmarked houses are economic powerhouses built on the principle of magic as commerce. They set the prices on rituals and goods, and they can undersell the competition. They're the Microsofts of Eberron; sure, you can look elsewhere for goods, but with the dragonmarked houses, they're widespread and you know what you're getting. All the houses make their mark on daily life in Eberron, and they keep the world running. Also, the houses have jointly created a college of magic, called the Twelve, which furthers magical research and often acts as the center of dragonmarked intrigue as the houses vie for favor and control. The houses often overlap in services and compete for customers and influence.

Only about half at most of the members of a dragonmarked house actually bear a dragonmark. Most are related by blood or marriage or simply work for them in a professional capacity. Each has different rules about who they hire and how one can become a member.

It is important to note that when the kingdom of Galifar (which was splinted into the Five Nations in the Last War) was founded, the rulers took measures to ensure the dragonmarked houses did not take too much power for themselves; in exchange, the government would not interfere in dragonmarked affairs. The Korth Edicts prevent any member of a dragonmarked house from holding land (in fact, the house enclaves are rented, not owned); limits the size of house garrisons; and specifies that no member of the aristocracy can marry a member of a dragonmarked house without one giving up all heritage and rights. However, now that the country is splintered in the wake of the Last War, some ignore the Korth Edicts and would like to see one of the dragonmarked houses take the throne themselves.

House Cannith (the Mark of Making)

Members: Humans

Guilds: Fabricators (equipment producers), Tinkerers (repairmen)

Cannith is a house of artifice. They are responsible for many magic items in the world, and they are also responsible for many mundane items as well — the stamp of Cannith can be found on items as varied as horseshoes, longsword hilts, and watertight barrels. During the Last War, they acts as arms dealers to every faction, and they created the warforged as artificial mercenaries. However, they suffered greatly on the Day of Mourning; their headquarters was in Cyre, and their house baron died without an apparent heir. Cannith has since splintered into three factions that disagree on the future of the house. House Cannith was also hurt by the Treaty of Thronehold, which ended the Last War and emancipated the warforged (also banning House Cannith from forging new ones).

House Deneith (the Mark of Sentinel)

Members: Humans

Guilds: Blademarks (mercenaries), Protectors (bodyguards and garrisons), Sentinels (marshals, war crime investigations)

House Deneith is a house of soldiers and sentinels. Their bodyguard skills are sought across Eberron, and they are willing to hire any worthy candidate as a house-approved mercenary. During the Last War, they offered mercenaries to all sides but took measures to ensure that Deneith troops would never fight other Deneith. They usually avoid political maneuvering, though they consider Cannith's warforged direct competition. House Deneith also watches over Thronehold, the ancestral holdings of the King of Galifar, in case a new king or queen is chosen.

House Ghallanda (the Mark of Hospitality)

Members: Halflings

Guilds: Hostelers (inns and restaurants), Dragontail (food and shelter to soldiers in war), Dawn-Builders (building new hostels in new territory)

House Ghallanda provides food and shelter to whoever can pay for their services. They take their mandate of hospitality very seriously and do their best to attend to a customer's every need. Their hostels are also, legally, asylums from the law; while many criminals seek shelter there, Ghallanda is no fool and keeps a strong garrison at each of its enclaves, and they'll keep anybody in their hostels as long as the customers can continue paying and respect the rules against violence. During the Last War, House Ghallanda provided food and shelter on the battlefield, and they were generally noncombatants.

House Jorasco (the Mark of Healing)

Members: Halflings

Guilds: Healers (herbalists and hospitallers), Medics (combat healers)

House Jorasco is the primary source of healing in Khorvaire — as long as you can pay, of course. They are familiar with all manner of diseases and ailments, and they have access to some of the most potent sources of magical healings in Eberron; some of their enclaves even contain truly exotic methods of healing. During the Last War, Jorasco acted as medics for all sides, often acting as healers for both sides of a battle. Since the war's end, the house has been investigating ways to use healing magic to possibly cure the Mournland.

House Kundarak (the Mark of Warding)

Members: Dwarves

Guilds: Bankers (commerce and moneylending), Warding (locksmiths, security, magical wards)

House Kundarak is the universal bank. The house's mastery of security has made their vaults nearly impenetrable, and their amassed wealth has given them a significant hand in moneylending. They back the currency for every nation in Khorvaire and advise them in financial matters. Their vaults are magically linked; someone who rents a safe-deposit vault can access that vault at any Kundarak bank. House Kundarak was mostly uninvolved in the Last War, although their significant influence did allow them to help the Mror Holds, the dwarf homeland, secede from Karrnath.

House Lyrandar (the Mark of Storm)

Members: Half-elves

Guilds: Windwrights (seafaring and airborne ships), Raincallers (weather control, aqueduct engineers)

House Lyrandar has the power to control the weather. They sell their magic to farmers and soldiers to provide ideal weather conditions, and they build and sell ships for sea transport (as their weather magic lets them control the wind as well). They have also created the elemental airships (with the help of the gnomes of Zilargo), which can ferry well-paying passengers all across Eberron at high speeds. During the Last War, House Lyrandar provided beneficial rain or sun, but refused to use their magic to cause droughts, mud, or snow. Their elemental airships have put them in direct competition with House Orien for transportation.

House Medani (the Mark of Detection)

Members: Half-elves

Guilds: Warning (detectives, bodyguards, investigation), Thousand Yard Stare (Mournland early warning patrols), Basilisk's Gaze (tracking down war criminals)

One of the smaller dragonmarked houses, House Medani uses its powers for observation. It's said that when you want to be protected, you go to House Deneith, but when you want to know who's after you, turn to House Medani. Their powers are used to solve crimes and provide counterintelligence, often apprehending spies. While the Korth Edicts prohibit members of dragonmarked houses from serving in government, House Medani increasingly became the counterintelligence arm of the Breland government during the Last War (as they are based in Breland), and there is talk that the house is too close to the Brelish crown.

House Orien (the Mark of Passage)

Members: Humans

Guilds: Couriers (delivery of small goods), Transportation (lightning rail, cargo shipment)

House Orien created the lightning rail, the train which connected all of Khorvaire together. They also organize caravans and maintain trade routes between the nations, and they are the foremost experts on teleportation — they maintain the teleportation portal circles. However, they suffered greatly during the Last War; the Mourning cut off their train route through Cyre, and fighting destroyed the White Arch Bridge that links Aundair and Karrnath, severing the train lines in two. Orien is looking for sources of funding to rebuild the White Arch Bridge or plot a safe course through the Mournland. They are also increasingly looking at teleportation as a means of travel, but it is still an inexact and unsafe science.

House Phiarlan (the Mark of Shadow)

Members: Elves

Guilds: Entertainers and artisans

House Phiarlan is the house of entertainment, providing training for artists all across Khorvaire. Their dragonmark grants them powers of illusion that they use to entertain and enthrall; the Phiarlans run theaters, music halls and circuses, and their performers are among the finest in the world. They also have a fair amount of spies in their organization, using their positions to gather intelligence (although this is less well-known, I'm telling you because you're the heroes).

House Sivis (the Mark of Scribing)

Members: Gnomes

Guilds: Notaries (legal documents, bookkeeping, translation), Speakers (diplomats, long-distance communication)

House Sivis is the master of the written word. They hold a monopoly on speaking stones that allow messages to be conveyed at long distances, and they invented the Sending ritual. They are also record keepers and mediators, using their mastery of language to keep communication flowing. They mostly stayed out of the Last War.

House Tharashk (the Mark of Finding)

Members: Humans, half-orcs

Guilds: Finders (dragonshard prospecting, bounty hunting, investigation), Liondrake's Roar (monster mercenary brokers)

The humans and half-orcs of House Tharashk use their services to find things. They are among the foremost prospectors of dragonshards, and they are commonly involved in search-and-rescue missions. They also pursue wanted criminals and war criminals. Lately, they have turned to the new nation of Droaam, helping find work for monsters that they wouldn't have had access to before.

House Thuranni (also the Mark of Shadow)

Members: Elves

Guilds: Shadow Network (illusions, assassins)

During the Last War, a schism erupted in House Phiarlan; the house had tried to stay neutral in the war, but the house of spies invariably found itself at cross-purposes. The situation came to a head when the Thuranni family turned on another family line, the Paelions, and exterminated them. The Phiarlan baron called for their excoriation, but the Thurannis left and declared themselves a new house. While they also specialize in art and performance, they are also formidable assassins (again, also not well known, but I'm telling you because you're the heroes).

House Vadalis (the Mark of Handling)

Members: Humans

Guilds: Handlers (animal breeding, training)

House Vadalis makes its fortune on the breeding and sale of animals. They have developed the art of magebreeding — weaving magic into natural bloodlines and making mundane animals stronger. They've also managed to domesticate animals that unmarked trainers couldn't handle. Vadalis animals are the smartest and strongest in the world, and nearly all of them are for sale. The house has a bitter rivalry with the Valenar elves, who say their horse breeds are stronger than any magebred horse. House Vadalis is banned from Valenar on pain of death, as they were accused of trying to steal Valenar horses for their own studies.

The Mark of Death, the Lost House

There was a thirteenth dragonmark, the Mark of Death, but it no longer exists.

April 27 recap

Our story begins, as many D&D games do, in a tavern. Professor Burch, a gnome scholar of quori and the plane of Dal Quor at Morgrave University in Sharn, has sent missives to each member of the party saying he has lucrative work for them that will require their precise skills. They all meet at the Gilded Griffon, a tavern in Port Verge, a rough-and-tumble harbor town on the island of Questor in the Lhazaar Principalities. The party consists of Alyosha Guran, a portly human warlock who had been a noble and art dealer in Cyre before the Mourning; Amahndar Kashkin, a kalashtar paladin of the Silver Flame who is mostly unaware of his true heritage; Laharal, a strange shardmind possessing strong telepathic power; Mevakri, a kalashtar ardent who has been working as a merchant in the Lhazaar Principalities while on the run from the Inspired; and Mika, a human thief from Sharn who is very intimidating with her mace and shuriken.

Professor Burch explains that he is pursuing an artifact called the Siberys Pandect, a large dragonshard that contains ancient knowledge of a war between the giants and the quori 40,000 years ago. [I originally said 4,000 in the game; forgot a 0.] As a scholar of Dal Quor, he thinks the Pandect would contain knowledge long thought lost: histories, weapons, spells, who knows what else. He explains that he and his kalashtar servant, Nevitash, found that the Pandect was taken from the giant ruins on Xen'drik about 10 years ago by an explorer named Breyten. Breyten became extremely paranoid about the Pandect falling into the wrong hands, and he hid it. When Breyten met Burch and Nevitash, he recognized Nevitash as a kalashtar and told them he'd written down in his journal (also hidden) where he hid the Pandect, and died shortly thereafter. Burch paid House Tharaskh for a spell to locate the journal, which reveals it was hidden in Port Verge. Burch sent Nevitash to retrieve it, but he hasn't been heard from in a week. (Burch also explains that he had Nevitash do the legwork on hiring all the party members, hence how he knew that Mekavri was a kalashtar despite her persistent attempts to hide herself.)

Burch offers to pay the party 50 gold apiece per day, plus room and board, to keep them on retainer and help him find the Pandect. Amahndar senses that Burch is on the level, so each member of the party agrees (although Mika is weirded out by the telepathic powers of half the party), and Meva begins asking around Port Verge to find if anybody has seen Nevitash. A few report having seen him a week ago hanging around a tavern and the marketplace about a week ago, but not since then. He never returned to his inn room about 5-6 days ago. At the same time, Mika decides to get a pet and seeks out a dog merchant. She finds an orc who is selling the dogs as food; patiently, she waits until he shuts down for the night and hauls his crated dogs into storage, then takes one for herself. Meanwhile, Amahndar meditates on the Silver Flame, while Laharal, attracting some odd looks, goes to a bookseller and buys books on Khorvaire history and an account of the Last War. Alyosha, unsurprisingly, orders a large meal for himself, especially as he's now on Burch's tab.

The next day (50 gp richer apiece, and having spent the night at a House Ghallanda hotel), they begin investigating in earnest. Nevitash was last seen at the Tavern of Good Hope, so they go there first, but it's still early in the day and there's not really anybody there. After some sitting around, the owner, a well-dressed halfling woman, approaches them and asks if they need anything. The owner directs them to an auction house down the street — Nevitash went down there one night and bought something from them, then was seen the same night drinking it up with some of the human guards from that business. One of them, Saal, has been back a few times, but no Nevitash.

On the way down to the auction house, a passing merchant offers to buy Laharal, a "strange crystal golem," from Alyosha, but decides against it when Laharal proves too "disobedient" to Alyosha's orders.

The party goes down to the auction house, where a small crowd is perusing the merchandise and a few humans stand guard. The auctioneer, a human on stage, denies having seen Nevitash, but tries to sell Meva an amulet that he guarantees will help find him. Laharal senses that the amulet isn't nearly as powerful as the auctioneer is claiming and advises her not to buy it. Amahndar senses that the auctioneer isn't telling the truth — and is, in fact, a changeling, not a human.

Mika grows impatient, draws her shuriken, and threatens the auctioneer as Amahndar tries to sweet-talk a deal. The auctioneer calls for guards, and a melee breaks out. The guards bash Mika a bit with their maces, but Meva and Amahndar help her recover. Alyosha quietly tries to grab some loot and make his escape, before they attract the wrong kind of attention. Finally, after most of the guards are knocked unconscious, Mika grabs the auctioneer and holds a shuriken to his neck, forcing a surrender.

The auctioneer admits that he's a changeling named Kif, and the auction house is a scam — they sell the same loot to adventurers, then get them drunk and shanghai them (getting their merchandise back and then some). Unlucky adventurers are sent to a ship docked in the thick fog around Trebaz Sinara, a large nearby island, where other ships come by to pick them up. Kif also corrects that it's not merely slavery — he works for the Bloodsails, a group of elf pirates who specialize in necromancy. They don't care if they get their victims alive or dead — they use the body for their dark rituals, and use necromancy to raise the bodies into undead. Amahndar perks up at this and declares that they must stop the Bloodsails at all costs, as he is an avowed foe of the undead.

The party decides to tie up Kif, and to use him to procure a ship to rendezvous with the Bloodsail vessel and find Nevitash.

Primer: Religions of Eberron

Deities don't take an active hand in Eberron — in fact, there's not any proof that the deities even exist, except that divine powers come from somewhere. Deities never appear to their followers, and they have no exarchs or aspects that manifest (though some angels claim to serve the gods, none of them have seen them either). Still, faith is very important to many different people, and there are a multitude of religions to choose from.

The Sovereign Host

The nine deities that make up the Sovereign Host find worshippers from all walks of life; in fact, the Sovereign Host is the most worshipped religion in Khorvaire. They represent all that is good about people and civilization, and prayers to each of the members are commonly offered in day to day life. There is no one unified church of the Sovereign Host or any of the individual deities, but they are an integral part of Khorvaire culture.

There is no afterlife for worshippers of the Sovereign Host; all souls, good or bad, go to Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead, when they die, but priests urge members to live good lives for their own sake, to enjoy the precious gift of life while they have it.

Members of the pantheon: Arawai, goddess of fertility and life; Aureon, god of knowledge and magic; Balinor, god of beasts and the hunt; Boldrei, goddess of community and the homestead; Dol Arrah, goddess of honor and sunlight; Dol Dorn, god of courage and physical prowess; Kol Korran, god of commerce and wealth; Olladra, goddess of luck and celebration; and Onatar, god of fire and industry.

The Dark Six

The counterparts to the Sovereign Host, the Dark Six represent the darkness of the wilderness and anarchy. They are cruel, passionate, and wild. Though most people don't actively worship them, prayers for mercy or supplication are commonly offered.

Member of the pantheon: the Devourer, god of nature's wrath; the Fury, god of vengeance and wrath; the Keeper, god of greed and necromancy; the Mockery, god of betrayal and war; the Shadow, god of ambition and corruption; and the Traveler, god of cunning and deception. While the first five are explicitly evil, the Traveler is mysterious and unaligned; in particular, he is revered by changelings.

The Silver Flame

The Church of the Silver Flame is the largest organized religion in Khorvaire. 700 years ago in Thrane, an ancient demon broke out of its prison and rampaged across the land. A paladin named Tira Miron and a couatl merged with a silver pillar of flame to imprison the demon, and on that spot the everburning Silver Flame manifested. Through the centuries, Tira acts as the Voice of the Silver Flame, whispering to the Keeper of the Flame, the head of the church. The Keeper is called from a young age, hearing the voice of Tira Miron; the Silver Flame chooses its own Keeper.

The Church of the Silver Flame is engaged in a never-ending quest to rid the world of evil, particularly entities such as undead and demons. The Church exhorts its members to convert others to the Flame and to fight evil wherever it can be found; as such, Silver Flame missionaries can be found in all corners of Khorvaire.

During the Last War, Thrane deposed its aristocratic rulers and instituted a theocracy, making the Church the official government body of the nation and the Keeper the ruler.

The current Keeper of the Flame is Jaela Daran, who heard the call of the Flame when she was 6 years old. She is now 11, and she is served in her position of head of state by the Council of Cardinals. Most of the true governance is done by High Cardinal Krozen.

While the Church of the Silver Flame is a strong force for good, it has its fair share of unpleasantness. The Church controversially went on a crusade to wipe out lycanthropes more than a hundred years ago, leading to great animosity with the shifters. Some priests are corrupt and use their positions of power for their own ends. And a few even say they can still hear the voice of the bound demon in the Silver Flame, urging them to evil.

The Blood of Vol

The worshippers of the Blood of Vol are fascinated by blood, which they consider to be "the divine within"; most of their rituals involve blood offerings and sharing. Followers shun the deities and focus on self-improvement, saying that the key to divinity is inside one's self. They say those who master their abilities can even become immortal. Many falsely believe the Blood of Vol worships the undead (who have achieved immortality); however, the teachings are dark and driven, but not evil. Many look to the Blood of Vol to improve their abilities and further unlock their powers.

The Path of Light

Most kalashtar follow the Path of Light, equal parts philosophy and religion. They pursue paths of self-improvement and meditation, seeking physical and mental perfection. They believe in a universal positive energy called il-Yannah, "the Great Light," which can grant peace and serenity. However, those who follow the Path of Light are not pacifists; they use their abilities to fight evil wherever it arises, and they seek to purge all of Eberron of corruption.

The Path of Inspiration

The people of Riedra, across the sea in Sarlona, worship the Inspired, god-like beings who are the pinnacle of mortal perfection. Riedrans obey every whim of the Inspired, and they believe that if they work hard enough in this life, they can be reincarnated in their next as an Inspired in a cycle of spiritual evolution. The religion also teaches that the kalashtar, who also hail from Sarlona, are dangerous magicians who consort with devils.

Cults of the Dragon Below

Not a unified religion, cults of the Dragon Below venerate creatures from the depths of Khyber, deep beneath the earth. Illithids, beholders, creatures from the nightmare realm of Xoriat, and others are objects of worship for these dangerous and often insane cultists.

Elf Religions

Elves generally follow one of two faiths: the Undying Court or the Spirits of the Past. Elves who follow the Undying Court typically hail from the nearby continent of Aerenal, where they worship the wisdom of their ancestors. However, on Aerenal, this extends far beyond worship; worthy ancestors are made literally immortal in complex rituals, and they hold court within giant temple-cities. Very few non-elves have ever seen the secret cities of the Undying Court.

Elves who worship the Spirits of the Past are typically from Valenar, a cultural offshoot of the Aerenal elves. These elves also follow their ancestors, but rather than venerating their undying forms, they wish to emulate their great deeds. As such, they pursue glory in battle and constantly pursue war, that they might follow the great tales of their predecessors.

Druidic Traditions

The Eldeen Reaches are the heart of druidism on Khorvaire, but there are a wide variety of druidic traditions. The Wardens of the Wood protect the Reaches from evil forces. The Gatekeepers, dating back thousands of years, are an orcish tradition focused on fighting aberrations and preserving the natural order. The Greensingers are a chaotic group with close ties to Thelanis, the realm of fey. The Ashbound consider themselves nature's avengers, and they violently attack arcane magic users; as such, they are reclusive and generally considered dangerous. Also considered dangerous and evil are the Children of Winter, who embrace death and decay. Other, varied sects exist all across Eberron.

Warforged Religions

The warforged, built by man, sometimes pursue man's faiths, but a few specific to warforged have sprung up. The most dangerous is the cult that worships the Lord of Blades, a dangerous warforged megalomaniac dwelling in the Mournland who plans to wipe out all beings of flesh so that warforged, the superior form, can rule supreme. Some even whisper that the Lord of Blades might have had a hand in the destruction of Cyre, though no proof exists.

Another warforged religion is the faith of the Becoming God. Not content to worship an abstract concept, these warforged, calling themselves the Godforged, debate whether they have souls and believe that the Becoming God is the great soul of the warforged people. They pursue creation forges to create more warforged (and thus more warforged souls), strengthening the soul of their people; some also travel into the Mournland, where they are working on constructing a giant body for the Becoming God to inhabit.

Finally, not so much a religion as a philosophy, the Reforged embrace that they have sentient life, believing they should act more human in order to enjoy their souls. These warforged act human, wear clothes, eat, create art and music, and live their emotions to the fullest.

Primer: The Nations of Eberron

Here's the first in a series of short articles detailing the world of Eberron to help players get acclimated. This one features short synopses of the different countries in Khorvaire, the main continent.

Galifar and the Last War

About a thousand years ago, the nations of Aundair, Breland, Cyre, Karrnath, and Thrane were united under one banner under the reign of King Galifar I. The kingdom of Galifar became the primary civilization on Khorvaire; in fact, the Khorvaire calendar begins at 1 YK, the year the kingdom was established. The five nation-states maintained their own identities, and each was ruled by the descendants of Galifar's five children.

However, a little more than a hundred years ago (in 894 YK), King Jarot died, and his children disagreed over who would succeed him. Disagreements turned to armed conflict, and the five nations declared war on each other. The Last War lasted for a hundred years and devastated the continent. Boundaries were drawn and re-drawn as alliances changed and armies claimed and lost territory.

The war neared its end in 994 YK on what is today known as the Day of Mourning. One day, a dead-grey mist settled over the nation of Cyre, killing all in its path. Entire armies and cities were devoured, and most strangely, the mist stopped exactly at Cyre's borders. The nation of Cyre was destroyed in a single day, and no one living knows the cause of the Mourning. Some say it was a weapon used by one of the other nations; some say it was the wrath of the gods; some say it was a demon awoken by the war. Everyone has their theories, and no one knows for certain. Cyre became the Mournland, a desolate ruin full of terrifying monsters, still cloaked by the dead-grey mist.

The nations soon signed the Treaty of Thronehold, which officially ended the war, though tensions still remain high. Many say it is only a matter of time before old rivalries explode and Khorvaire knows war once again. (While I don't expect anybody to keep track of years and dates and history, the campaign will take place in 998 YK, 4 years after the Day of Mourning and 2 years after the Last War ended.)

The Five Nations

Aundair

Known for: farming, arcane magic

Most of the country is pastoral farmland, and most of the people are simple and rustic. However, Aundair has great metropolitan centers, and it is also home to a number of wizard colleges, such as the Arcane Congress. Aundairians are fascinated by magic.

Breland

Known for: democracy, being a melting pot

Breland, a socially progressive country, is one of the most diverse countries on Khorvaire, as people of all races can be found here. It is also one of the only democracies; though they still have a king, they also have a common parliament and encourage civic participation. Breland is also home to the city of Sharn, the City of Towers, the largest city on the continent. Sharn serves as an adventuring haven because of its access to more exotic locales.

Cyre (now the Mournland)

Known for: art, invention

Cyre was known as a center of art and culture before the Day of Mourning. The land is now inhabited by strange monsters and foul undead, so many Cyrans have settled in nearby Breland. As their homeland was lost to them only four years ago, many Cyrans are bitter and struggle to survive elsewhere as they search for a way to reclaim their lost homeland.

Karrnath

Known for: military, undead

Karrnath is known as one of the primary military powers on Khorvaire. Every citizen is required to serve at least two years in the army or navy, and nearly everybody has had combat training of some kind. Life in Karrnath is disciplined and regimented. Karrnath is also known for commonly using undead as soldiers on the battlefield, and in fact they have their own necromantic recipes to keep their undead troops in line. Many Karrns don't have the same prejudices against the undead that others do; they aren't afraid of continuing to serve Karrnath after death.

Thrane

Known for: the Silver Flame

The Church of the Silver Flame has always been strong in Thrane, as their main cathedral, including the Silver Flame itself, is in the capital. During the Last War, angry after a string of defeats, the citizens overthrew the monarchy and instituted the Church as ruler. Thrane is now a theocracy, ruled by the Speaker of the Flame. Nearly everybody in Thrane worships the Silver Flame, and most of the Church's paladins are from Thrane.

Other nations

Darguun

Known for: goblin tribes

Darguun was once part of Cyre; the goblin tribes who lived there worked as mercenaries during the Last War. During the war, the goblins instigated a sudden, violent rebellion, claiming their ancestral homelands for their own. Darguun was recognized as a sovereign nation during the Treaty of Thronehold. It's considered a lawless land by many, though this is in fact not true; the goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears do have laws and swear allegiance to the Lhesh Haruuc (their leader).

The Demon Wastes

Known for: barbarian tribes, demons

Not a "nation" in the strictest sense, the region called the Demon Wastes is unclaimed. It is a terrible badland of twisting canyons and harsh conditions, plagued by barbarian tribes. The Demon Wastes are home to many demons and fiends who roam freely and plot openly. Though the land is rich in magical resources, only the most foolish adventurers travel there. The only force for good here is the Ghaash'kala, a confederation of orcs that contain the evil forces there.

Droaam

Known for: monsters

Droaam was once part of Breland, but monstrous mercenaries — ogres, trolls, minotaurs, gnolls, and the like — took it as their own during the Last War. All the warlords swear fealty to Droaam's rulers, a trio of hags called the Daughters of Sora Kell who keep the peace. Most of the other nations are nervous about the existence of a monster nation, but don't have the strength to try to conquer it. Most people keep out of Droaam unless they don't want to be found.

The Eldeen Reaches

Known for: druids

This territory once belonged to Aundair, but when that nation pulled most of its forces away, the druids stepped in to protect the citizens. The Eldeen Reaches then seceded, a fact many Aundairians are still angry about. The nation is known as the heart of druidism on Khorvaire; nearly all druidic traditions were founded here by the greatpine treant Oalian. The Eldeen Reaches also has close ties to Thelanis, the fey realm. Most people who live here are farmers or members of druidic sects.

The Lhazaar Principalities

Known for: pirates, mariners

The Principalities are a series of island territories each ruled by a so-called sea prince. It's home to pirates, outlaws, mariners, and seagoing merchants. Laws vary dramatically, but it is a major trading center despite its violent reputation.

The Mror Holds

Known for: dwarf clans

The Mror Holds is a confederation of dwarf clans who are constantly fighting amongst each other for position and power. They were once part of Karrnath, but seceded during the Last War. It's also a rich, mountainous mining region, making the dwarves very wealthy. The dwarves also protect against aberrations that creep up from the deep realm of Khyber.

Q'Barra

Known for: New Galifar, lizardfolk, dragonborn

During the Last War, a group of human deserters settled in this humid jungle region, disgusted with the infighting between the Five Nations, and founded New Galifar, their vision of a united humanity. They quickly found the land was already inhabited by lizardfolk and dragonborn, and tensions have not cooled down between the human idealists and the lizards wanting to protect their homeland. Explorers have also found many ruins across this new frontier, some dating back thousands of years.

The Shadow Marches

Known for: dragonshards, orcs, ruins

The Shadow Marches are not a "nation" in the strictest sense because nobody wants the territory — marshland and swamps as far as the eye can see. As such, there are very few settlements here. However, it is dotted with ruins dating back to ancient history, and it is one of the major locations to find dragonshards, mystical minerals that help power magical items. Many people try to make a living here as dragonshard prospectors. The orc clans vary between cultured and civilized to true savages.

The Talenta Plains

Known for: halflings

Not all halflings come from the Talenta Plains, although a fair share of them do. A large rolling savannah and swath of grasslands, the Plains are home to nomadic tribes of halflings who live as hunter-gatherers. The Talenta halflings use dinosaurs as mounts, and while they seem primitive, the tribesmen are well aware of the outside world.

Valenar

Known for: militaristic elves

This region once belonged to Cyre. The Cyrans hired elf warclans from the nearby continent of Aerenal as mercenaries during the Last War, but the elves took the territory for their own, saying Valenar was among their ancestral lands long before Galifar was founded. The humans who lived there adapted to life under their new masters and live there still as serfs. The Valenar warclans seek to emulate their ancestors through battle and glorious deeds, and they commonly ride their magnificent warhorses across the border, seeking battle.

Zilargo

Known for: gnomes

Zilargo is a civilized land ruled by the gnomes, but don't let the peaceful demeanor fool you: Most gnomes make their living as spies and intelligence gatherers, and Zilargo employs a shadowy cabal called the Trust to ensure its citizens work for the good of the nation. Enemies soon find their secrets revealed and are never seen again. Still, Zilargo is a land of magical and alchemical innovation, and the gnomes have founded many universities and laboratories.

1st Post!!!1!11

Welcome to the blog for my Eberron campaign, set to start in the near future. Here, I'll be posting recaps, character profiles, and interesting Eberron world info.

For now, I've got starter lists of the player characters (subject to change), NPCs, and locations, and there's a giant map of Khorvaire, the main continent of Eberron, which is where most of the campaign will take place. It's roughly 2/3 the size of North America, for comparison purposes.