Session 17, "Monsters" of Morgrave
General Summary
Welcome Back to Eberron...
After a daring rescue from the depths of Dolsharn, the Sharn Dragons faced Cavallah's newest lieutenant, Keth's former teammate, Delakash! Defeating the orc shaman, alongside the rest of his team and two hobgoblins, the party escaped the goblin refuge and returned to the surface. After returning to the Boromar Mansion; Erisna, Rare, and Therin discovered that a commitee of concerned citizens had formed, known as the Sharn Alliance. These citizens have offerred to pay the party 100,000 galifar to end this "Drooamite menace".
During the five days of down time, the Sharn Dragons accomplished the following tasks:
Erisna bought 4x Javelins (-20 sovereigns) and a beautiful set of plate mail (-1,500 galifar) from Scarf Gambeson before helping the Church secure the Cathedral of the Cleansing Flame as they prepared for a suspected attack from the "Droaamites" from the lower city. Later, she helped in the investigation at Morgrave University (see sidebar).Glittergem ventured out to find the lost gauntlet of Halas Tarkanan, and fell into the tomb of Tekth, an ancient Dhakaani emporer from the Age of Monsters. Afterward, she dove into her studies of the War of the Mark (see sidebar). She also identified items discovered in Cavallah's laboratory: Scroll of Protection (Aberration); Scroll of Comprehend Languages, Handy Haversack.
Rare: visited her wife, Ea, at the Panaceum, discovering that her condition had drawn a lot of attention from the many healers of House Jorasco. Her caregiver, Meredith d'Jorasco is perplexed as to the cause of her magical stasis, though Rare knows that it is the work of her mysterious patron. Later, Rare took the opportunity to make amends with Glacias, taking her familiar to the docks of Sharns Welcome to fish. Finally, in an attempt to aid the party in their research, Rare helped Glittergem in her studies into the War of the Mark. Quickly growing bored, Rare wandered around the University library to discover the existence of Flamewind.
Therin began his downtime by reading a few of Cavallah's books about Manifest Zones before venturing to Morgrave University to speak with Professor Whisper Pines to learn more of the subject (see sidebar). Therin was able to convince Glittergem to improve his Homunculus Servant Muninn by grafting the Psi Crystal he drew from the Mysterious Black Flame Lantern to the crystals that powered it. She was successful in the attempt, providing Muninn the ability to answer yes/no questions (but simultaneously making the creature to glow a dim purple when in low light/ darkness up to 5 ft.). Later, Therin spoke with Vanessa ir'Tremblay about the missing books, only to discover that the library records had been intentionally destroyed nearly two months prior.
Later, the Sharn Dragons gathered around some hot beverages in the early morning to discuss the results of their studies. As they sipped the last of the beverages Tinker provided, a member of the Sharn Watch entered the tavern to request their assistance at Morgrave University. A captain of the Watch, Derek Jerkei had unwittingly angered the University staff when he ordered his guards to seize Professor Nigel Teller, and mistakenly tried to arrest an innocent member of the staff (who happened to be a shifter). The party departed for the University immediately, finding Commander Iyanna ir'Talan in charge when they got there. She was surrounded by an angry mob and counter-protestors. One group, a crowd of "Droaamites" were protesting the unfair treatment of their peoples by the Sharn Watch, and the other group (made up of humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes) were counter-protesting the violence of the "Droaamite" group. She informed the Sharn Dragons that she was certain that Professor Teller was inside the University, but she couldn't send members of the Watch to investigate without losing control of the mob. The party agreed to act on behalf of the Sharn Alliance to find the professor and turn him in for questioning. Entering Morgrave University, the party met with Larian ir'Morgrave, the university's patron. He seemed extremely excited to have the Sharn Dragons there to help, and was deeply apologetic that anyone in his institution would be involved in Cavallah's insurrection. He had his entire staff scouring the grounds and the buildings looking for the professor, but they had not yielded results. He was suspicious that some of the "Droaamite" professors were not putting in an honest effort to look for Teller, but had sent human professors that he trusted to double-check their work. Of note, he was extremely interested in Rare- and was even more fascinated when he learned that she was from Xen'drik. She was eventually pulled away from the noble's inquisitive hands to begin the search. The Sharn Dragons decided to follow ir'Morgrave's advice and start their search in the Library. Rare decided to have Glacias thoroughly search the towers while the rest of the party continued to search the premises from the ground up. Flying between the towers, the imp discovered a large gynosphynx chasing Professor Nigel Teller around the tower above the library. Leaping into action, the party quickly ascended the stairs to prevent the large, magical creature from killing the defenseless anthropology professor. Bursting into the tower through a trap door, Rare was able to convince Flamewind not to attack and Erisna was able to convince her to release Teller into their custody. She agreed, under the condition that the professor was returned to her, and assisted the party in binding him to be delivered to the Watch. Suddenly realizing that she was talking to the party of adventurers she was waiting for, Flamewind proceeded to relate to them a vision she had been given by a creature from somewhere in the Weave (the source of all magic in the Material Plane). In this vision, she observed that this group of heroes would face their first challenge in the form of Cavallah to determine if they were worthy for the larger fate that lay before them. If successful, they would become the champions that would free a powerful spirit- perhaps the one that spoke to her through the vision. To transport the prisoner from the university, the party decided to place Teller in manacles, gag him, bind him with rope to Hogarth, and cast Invisibility on him to hide him from the angry mob outside. While transporting him through the crowd, Teller began to scream through the gag in order to draw the attention to himself. Impulsively, Glittergem struck him with her Hand to God as Therin tried to stop her. As her weapon struck the invisible professor, the illusion obscuring him from view faded for a moment, revealing him to the angry crowd. They immediately set upon the party, protected by the guards of the Watch. They were able to make their escape from the crowd by pressing forward as Glittergem cast Invisibility on Teller again to hide him from the majority of the crowd that didn't see him. Followed by a procession of the angry mob, the party made their way to the Black Arch garrison to conduct their interrogation. Once there, Erisna initiated the questioning and was able to convince Teller to reveal his part in Cavallah's scheme. He admitted to assiting the goblin in her search for knowledge on the Manifest Zones, and serving as a courier for contraband and laundered currency from the Daask cell in Malleon's Gate and the Upper City. He also informed the party that Cavallah had been studying how to disrupt the Manifest Zone to Syrania (The Azure Sky) that is believed to be below Sharn. Though he had been working diligently to help her, Teller had not been able to find anyone at Morgrave with the knowledge necessary to pull that feat off. Having gathered all the information that they could from Professor Nigel Teller, the party departed the garrison with the understanding that they would learn Flamewind's intentions for the man before bringing him back to the gynosphynx. With the mob still raging outside, Iyanna instructed one of her guards to transport the party by Skycoach back to the Green Dragon.
In Our Story
The party was instrumental in the location and seizure of Professor Nigel Teller, one of Cavallah's lieutenants and an instrumental partner in her criminal endeavors in the Upper City. Teller had been helping her gain knowledge and resources in her studies of the Manifest Zones and had enabled the gnolls that attacked the Boromar Ball. They also encountered Flamewind, a creature with prophetic powers who informed them that their fight against the leader of the Daask cell was merely the first step in a larger journey.Manifest Zones
DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) Check: Manifest Zones can be found throughout Eberron. They are connected to 12 of the 13 Planes in the Astral Sea. The 13th Plane, Dal Quor (The Region of Dreams), was severed from Eberron by the Cul'sir Giants over 66,000 years ago. Some scholars believe that this was tied to the destruction of a moon.DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) Check: Manifest Zones vary in size, from the size of a city block to the size of a single tree. Regardless of its size, each Manifest Zone conveys an aspect of the Plane that it represents. This could be a physical, such as a Manifest Zone to the Plane of Risia (The Plane of Ice) making the area colder. Or, the manifestation could be spiritual, like the Crying Fields of southern Aundair where hundreds spectral soldiers engage in battle each night as if they were in Shavarath (The Battleground).
DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana) Check: Approximately 10,000 years ago the Gatekeeper Druids created a method of sealing off the Manifest Zones through the use of Planar Seals (called "Gatekeeper Seals"). These seals were only used to lock down the Manifest Zones to Xoriat (The Realm of Madness), and the techniques and rituals used have been lost to the ages.
DC 22 Intelligence (Arcana) Check: For some reason, Manifest Zones to Thelanis (The Fairy Court) operate with a slight variation to the other 11 observable Planes. Some Thelanisian Manifest Zones act as a beachhead, bringing a portion of Thelanis to Eberron for a short time. Taer Valastras in what is modern day Valenar is said to have an entire fey town arrive when Thelanis is contermonious.
Report Date
01 Mar 2021
Investigating Morgrave University
DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) Check: Many among Morgrave's faculty believe that the increased concern about a "Droaamite Incursion" will lead to a disproportionate response from the government. Many among the faculty have suffered during the Last War for being falsely associated with a foreign power (Professor Ari Toriun) or being a sympathizer (Professor Julian Krize). Sharn Watch investigations looking for leads on Morgrave's campus are making them nervous.DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) Check: Vanessa ir'Tremblay is said to have had a visceral reaction to the Battle of Boromar Mansion, and has refused to eat. Conversely, Larian ir'Morgrave the benefactor of the University, can't stop speaking about it to anyone who will listen. He has thrown his full support behind the Sharn Alliance and serves as a member, much to the chagrin of his faculty.
War of the Mark
DC 10 Intelligence (History) Check: The war began over 5oo years before Galifar I established his kingdom (1,500 years ago). The Dragonmarked Houses launched an inquisition to eliminate the aberrant and mixed Dragonmarks. While they committed horrible attrocities during their various pogroms throughout Khorvaire, these acts were allowed due to the many lethal attacks and accidents that occurred prior to the war by chaotic aberrant dragonmarks.DC 14 Intelligence (History) Check: Rebel heroes from the War of the Mark included Halas Tarkanan and a series of rogues known only by their monikers... The Lady of the Plague (said to be Halas' lover), and the Dreambreaker. The Lady of the Plague is widely believed to have died with Halas during the seige of Sharn, but the Dreambreaker's body was never recovered.
