So I have a game I am going to be running this weekend that is set in Eberron, in Sharn, at least at first and I am wracking my brain trying to come up with an adventure. I am using an idea I got from City of Mist having this iceberg flow chart. One chart is for the first adventure which involves the PCs, as Cyrean refugees running a newspaper tracking down a group of wealthy failson serial killers called “The Hunt Club” who are luring people into the undercity to hunt them like game animals.
It occurs to me that this should be part of a larger narrative arc and that was what I was working on last night. That is what the second iceberg chart is for, where each node on the flowchart is a possible adventure I might write in more detail in the future. That is where I am stuck and need feedback.
I came up with the idea that the Quori are trying to re-establish the link between Eberron and their homeplane via a demiplane. I got the idea from Cultist Simulator. In that game, it was a mountain surrounded by forests and gates accessible through dreams that cultists could eventually ascend to living in. Perhaps in Eberron, it looks like Cyre as a demiplane of dread that people might visit while dreaming but as the seals that hold back Dal Quor weaken, it becomes possible to enter it while awake.
The serial killers tie in to the larger arc because they are working out of an old ruin previously looted by the campaign bad guy and their minds are under the influence of the dream plane. They’ve been having visions of The Carnival in their dreams, a parade of decadent madness that marches over a twisted version of Cyre in the demiplane. Since then, they have been luring Cyrean refugees to the ruins under the city, ostensibly offering work but actually hunting them through a trap filled dungeon. This will be the first adventure. Carnival has an alternate meaning of “farewell to the flesh.” The Carnival takes this literally.
Here’s what I scribbled down between classes in my notebook for a backstory for the wider arc though. I am looking for critique and ways to make it better, more coherent and workable.
“The Quori are trying to Invade the mortal world again. Using their cultists in the Path of Inspiration has not been enough to exert their influence in the world. By happenstance, a psychic demiplane was created by a warlock Cultist of The Dragon Below. There were eight sealed gateways blocking access but in the quest for immortality, the cultist, a human warlock named Harleton Card has ascended and gained access to this realm. It is inhabited by shadows of mortal consciousness along with the spirits of those who died in the day of mourning. In life Card was a wealthy airship setter, a famous artist whose side hobby was sex trafficking which he used to have blackmail material on the rich and famous.
“What he really wanted was immortality which is where his cult came in. Looting ruins of giants and dragon empires they got the knowledge they needed to break the first seal, the doorway of flesh, offering the kingdom of Cyre as sacrifice. His body has since become a host for a quori, not unlike the inspired and he has forged an alliance with them. His spirit, now immortal is the King of the Carnival, hunting survivors of the Morning within the dream Cyre and assimilating them into the parade.
“As a side effect of this activity, the thoughts and dreams of the public, the ones who experience dreams have become disordered and erratic. Visions of the island and its carneval have appeared in the minds of some of the people of Sharn, near where one of his old sanctums is located. Some rich kids found the hidden library and it brought out their worst impulses, hence the first adventure.
“Cultists attempting to break the other seals could be seeds for the rest of the adventure. Possibly each country along with places in Xen’Dirk plays host to libraries and artefacts of the original invasion. By opening the seals in strategic places, perhaps the Quori can emerge anew. "
It's a work in progress. Either way I am going to be working on my real first adventure Thursday but having a backstory for a larger plot could prevent plot holes and contradictions. What do you think?
Terra Torment
