Last we stopped the party just reached at stormreach. the above mentioned selling and buying all took place off screen. during these, they hear two gnomes talking about some news in Darguun, and the name "Skull Reave" is mentioned. as they inquire, they learn that there has been a curious... development. just about after they left for Xen'dric, a small army unit of warforged went over the Breland- Darguun border and attacked the Skullreave village, decimating it, freeing the slaves and bringing them back to Breland. the Darguun overlords are furious, but it seems to be an act led not by a country, but by a couple- Lady Auressia and her husband, who are quioted to "have learned of the plight of these people, and done what they could with their wealth to free them". not much else is mentioned about the couple.
this has quite confused the party. some thought it a trick, some though that maybe there are two Auressias- the real good one, and a shapeshifter using her form. they decided not to dwell on this for now.
while they were there though Danves and Savage each had a dream coming to them.
Dream for Danves
Spoiler
Show
: "in your dream you're in a hall of mirrors. most are the usual kind, some are enlarged, some small. some simple, some more elaborate. some are crashed... in the mirrors you see various faces, people, creatures, all looking at you. once they've got your attention, they begin to speak. "they have done it! you have done it! the keeper, dead! ha! who would have believed! success after success. but still so far away. we wish... they wish... (some bickering amongst the images) we'd like to try and trust you. we can help you, if you can help us. you've found some of us, some of ME! the items you hold, the personality shards we/ i crafted (there is some care and love when talking of the shards, but also pain and sadness) I.. we... us... me... go lost, separated, misplaced.... STOLEN (with anger!) she will not let us join. this hurts so much.
but we've listened, and learned. i gained clues. there is a chance- if we can get the rest, maybe we can become me... maybe not, perhaps it is lost anyway. will you try? (the various images look at you with hope). the unlikely champion, will you help an unlikely opponent?"
you see an image of a Khundarak bank, and you feel yourself going in. a dwarfbanker ask you "how may I help?" and you hear the voices answering. "I'd like to check my vault, Danves Stormwielder" with that the dream ends.
Dream for Savage
Spoiler
Show
In your dream you see the Mournland again, the ever changing mines of Eston, your prison cell in the nearby encampment. you see the Keeper, powerfull as ever, intimidating as ever, cruel as... but suddenly his head falls down? the Shadow comes behind him, in her human form, that of a high born lady of some sort. "you have done it. finally done it. your captor is dead, you are free, you are good, and all that nonsense..." she looks at you with a face of mixed emotions- anger, disinterest, hatred, caring, compassion... pride? she undoes the locks on your cell, letting you out. the scenery changes to that of the siege. "why nonsense? because you and I know what lies within you don't we? the Keeper and I haven't created anything new, we just enabled it to blossom." she turns to you, and caresses your angelic face "ah yes... i can feel the rage, the anger in you. you want to strike back at me, don't you? strike! strike with all your might!" with anger, frustration and pain you unleash a dark enveloping fire to consume her. she partly yells in pain, partly laughs in thrill "yes, yes! you will have the power to tear down worlds my Savage, my brute, my raging wrath of the gods! your ancestors show themselves well in you, my angel of battle"
you start to take flight, over he seas, over Khorvaire. the land seems to crack, some malevolent light beams through "we shall battle again, this is quite sure. but that is less of a consequence. how does the battle within go oh Savage dear one? how does it TRULY go?" with that the dream fades.
Danves' dreams was meant to introduce the other quest- search for the personality shard, while Savage's dream was supposed to fuel the character's roleplay theme- between light and dark. however, the player took it quite differently- if Savage had dreams of the Shadow, that must mean that Danves is also contacted by her!
and Danves? he kept quiet, and at morning went to the bank (the players were really amused by an idea of a bank in a fantasy setting. still not used to the "luxury" of Eberron) he got clearance to his little documents vault, and peered inside. two scrolls, one magical, one not.
the not magical one had a list of clues, guessed locations and so on of Shards, or shard owners? 15 such clues. the magical scroll held two arcane spells- "detect shard" (level 1, same as other detect spells, just 10min/level, only for personality shards) and the other one was "shard compass"- could sense a "connected shard" (each shard was connected to another, in a long chain) for up to 100 miles/ level. Danves took them all, and got back to the party.
"Hey Red, i've been thinking about the strange personality items we have. last time we were here, i asked some... people i know, from my past, to prepare some spells that might help us. can you make use of these?" he wasn't going to tell them what it was about! their own little quest? Red and Google's players play their characters as somewhat naive and trusting, and so accepted this. but they were thinking of whether to notify Savage about this. this was the first time they talked about not trusting new members to the group immediately.
Google's player said he'd trust Savage, she healed him all through the battle with the Keeper and exchanged some blows with him as well, but Red and Danves were not as quick. Red just wanted to know the new (now veiled) preistess better, while Danves disliked the suspicious looks she was giving him.
meanwhile Google received a message through the sending stone from Obraskyr. he wanted to know what are their plans, and urged to search the Mournland now, while they can, while the dark six are away.. the party... didn't like the idea. they still desired to explore the Shadow Marches, the Silent halls. mostly i think they wanted to duel it out with the Shadow. :smallsmile:
Danves went about to other "errands" ("i'm looking out to see that Savage doesn't follow me") and returned with a list his "contacts" have made regarding the shards. this got their interest, but not for long. where i hoped they might think and ponder the various clues, the players gave it a cursory look of "that's nice. maybe some time we'll get to it". Danves and Savage both said that they must learn what these shards are about, but Red and Google both argued that they didn't give them any real benefit till, so why bother?
DM Design: what is the "search for the shards" quest?
Spoiler
Show
i had plans for this quest for a long time, but only started to really build it in the past two weeks. the inspiration for it comes from Shadowrun- heavy on exploration and "leg work", with very few deadly battles. basically the party could have searched for the variosu shards 9there are many more than the listed ones, but we focused on them). with intriguing non standard challenges to get each, with a very real possibility not to find many of the shards at all. also there would be some competition by another shard collector, being tracked down by the Shadow's servants for a deadly fight (or two), and things going strange with some of the shards themselves...
this was all supposed to lead to an intriguing meeting with the traveler later on, and possibly gaining her as a powerfull ally (as well as one of the only artificers on the continent who could create high level items)
the party looked around and found a boat of house Tharash'ak that went straight to Zarash'ak in the marches. the journey would take 13 days.
oh! nearly forgot- Jalo the healer has left them finally.
Eberron Stuff
Spoiler
Show
House Tharash'ak is one of the dragonmarked houses, specializes in finding people, stuff, and surveying lands. they originate from the shadow marches. the house is comprised mostly of human and half orcs, though orcs work for them as well.