Eberron - Rising from the Last War

(Joyce) #1
The Dream Adventures table puts these principles to­
gether and suggests hooks into this kind of adventure.

DREAM ADVENTURES
d4 Adventure Goal
Break a psychic lock that is preventing a House Thu­
ranni spy from remem bering what they learned about
a sinister Dreaming Dark plot.
2 Escape into Dal Quor to find an artifact that can be
brought back to the Material Plane when the charac­
ters awaken.
3 Rescue a character who is suffering from debilitating
recurring nightmares by defeating the quori inhabit­
ing the character's mind.
4 Stop the construction of an eldritch machine in Dal
Quor that will give the quori physical access to the
Material Plane again.

DYING IN DREAMS
Death in dreams is less severe than in reality, but it's
not without consequence. Of course, characters who are
mere figments of a dreamer's imagination are simply
removed from the dream. But a character dies while ac­
tually dreaming, the character receives no benefit from
the rest and takes 3d6 psychic damage.
If you want to establish more severe consequences,
you can. A dreamer killed by a quori could be trapped in
Dal Quor while the quori possesses their body, forcing
their allies to try to rescue them from their nightmares.


DREAMING DARK NPCs
Agents of the Dreaming Dark are insidious villains that
can appear anywhere, in almost any context. They re­
ceive orders from a cabal of powerful quori. The leader
of the organization, known as the Devourer of Dreams,
communes with the nightmare spirit of Dal Quor itself.
The Dark's chief agent in Eberron is a kalaraq quori
(see chapter 6) named Tirashana, who has planted mind
seeds-mental copies of herself-across Khorvaire.
The Dreaming Dark has Inspired agents and kalaraq
quori mind seeds (see chapter 6) scattered across Khor­
vaire, hidden within the membership of dragonmarked
houses, noble families, and other driving forces. Be­
cause Dreaming Dark agents can communicate and co­
ordinate with one another in dreams, they never have to
risk losing their cover to receive assignments or trans­
mit information.

DREAMING DARK NPCs
d4 NPC
A servant in a manor house overhears everything the
visiting nobles whisper about in their private rooms.
2 The captain of a successful mercenary company sud­
denly changes the kinds of contracts they'll accept.
3 A local druid searches out monsters in the wilderness
and drives them into murderous rampages.
4 A charismatic Cyran stirs up anger and discontent
among the frightened refugees.

DREAMING DARK
CAMPAIGN THEMES
Long ago, the Dreaming Dark caused a long period of
strife on the continent of Sarlona, fostering suspicion,
rebellion, fe ar, prejudice, and greed among and within
the various nations that held power at the time. While
chaos reigned, the quori also carefully nurtured the
human bloodlines that would become the Inspired,
perfectly suited to serve as hosts for quori spirits. Then,
when the destruction of the old kingdoms was complete,
a group of bold champions-Inspired vessels of the
Dreaming Dark-formed a new nation from the ashes
of the old. Having conquered Sarlona by means of such
manipulation, the Dreaming Dark has turned its sights
to Khorvaire-which is already a continent in turmoil.
With the conquest of the entire continent in mind,
the Dreaming Dark has three objectives in Khorvaire.
The first is to cause chaos and strife whenever possible,
turning allies against one another and spreading fear.
The second is to promote their chosen champions. A
champion could be a nation, a mercenary company, a
dragonmarked house, or a religion-whatever it is, it will
have been thoroughly subverted by the Dreaming Dark.
Finally, the Dreaming Dark relentlessly pursues the ka­
lashtar and takes every opportunity to bring down these
enemies. The kalashtar are descended from rebel quori
that defied the Dreaming Dark and want to push Dal
Quor into an age of light.
Given those objectives, the Dreaming Dark can drive
events on a small scale, by setting bandits in motion or
triggering local feuds, or the adventurers might uncover
evidence of plans that could reignite the Last War or
bring an entire nation or religion under the sway of the
Dreaming Dark.

DREAMING DARK
ADVENTURE HOOKS
The Dreaming Dark Adventure Hooks table offers some
ideas for strange occurrences and nightmarish events
that can touch off stories involving the Dreaming Dark.

DREAMING DARK ADVENTURE HOOKS
d4 Adventure Hook
The high priest of a temple falls into a deep sleep
from which nothing can awaken them.
2 The characters notice a pattern after defeating sev­
eral foes: each enemy exhibited a particular quirk of
speech or gesture. They now recognize that quirk in
an ally or mentor.
3 A mad wizard encoded the remedy to a destructive
spell in their own dreams. The characters must enter
the dreamscape and recover the remedy.
4 A war criminal imprisoned during the Last War
reaches out, claiming to have evidence of their
innocence and warning that a destructive force is
influencing the government.

CHAPTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES
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