FORTIFIED OUTPOST
Military outposts across Khorvaire serve a variety
of purposes during and after the war: rest stops for
platoons on the move, garrisons for inactive troops,
armories where weapons are stored, staging points for
scouts and rangers who keep an eye on nearby enemy
movements, and defensive fortifications meant to protect
passes, bridges, or other key strategic locations. In an
adventure, virtually anything can happen in or around it.FORTIFIED OUTPOST FEATURES
This outpost, as shown on map 4.5, is a simple building
holding barracks, officers' quarters, and storage areas
encased within multiple rings of fortification. A nor
mal approach to the inner compound involves passing
through one of two gate houses (protected by arrow
slits and murder holes), crossing an open courtyard
(with more arrow slits and defenders on the rooftop
above), passing through another small gate area, and
traversing the training yard before finally reaching the
lone entrance.
An enormous magic weapon akin to a ballista is
mounted atop the outpost and supported by a massive
stone column. Depending on the outpost, this weapon
might launch ballista bolts with tremendous force
and speed, expel surges of lightning, hurl fireballs, or
otherwise send devastating munitions at approach
ing enemies.
A basement area is dedicated to storage, including
holding cells to contain prisoners of war while they wait
to be transported to dedicated prison camps.
FORTIFIED OUTPOST ADVENTURES
The Fortified Outpost Adventures table provides some
possibilities for adventures set in such a location.
FORTIFIED OUTPOST ADVENTURES
d8 Adventure Premise
The Order of the Emerald Claw has seized the outpost
and is raising a legion of undead soldiers.
2 The outpost is said to be haunted by the vengeful
spirit of a former commander who was slain by their
own troops.
3 A tunnel beneath the outpost leads to a sealed portal
to Xoriat.
4 The outpost borders the Mournland, where mutant
monstrosities emerge from the mists.(^5) When a force of aberrations arises from Khyber, this
abandoned outpost is the adventurers' only chance to
stop their advance.
6 The outpost is in a critical location, but it was dam
aged during the war. It needs to be protected while it
is being restored.
7 The outpost is located on a manifest zone linked to
Thelanis. It has been seized by a group offey, and the
locals want it reclaimed.
8 The outpost was built on the foundations of an an
cient goblin fortress, and treasures are rumored to lie
buried beneath it.
LORD OF BLADES
Stalking the Mournland like a spectral juggernaut, the
Lord of Blades has emerged from the turmoil of the
Last War as a symbol that calls to all the warforged of
Khorvaire. Regardless of what they have become, the
warforged were created to fight and die on the orders
of their creators. Some warforged accept their history
for what it is and look toward the future, but others hold
a grudge because of how they were exploited by their
creators. Those warforged make up the followers of the
Lord of Blades.
The Lord of Blades preaches of an apocalyptic future
in which the warforged will destroy or enslave the na
tions of flesh and blood. "We were made as weapons,"
the Lord of Blades has declared over and over. "Let us
be weapons! Let the nations of the land reap what they
have sown!"
Today, warforged roam the Mournland in service to
the Lord of Blades, patrolling the devastated terrain
and salvaging resources from the ashes of Cyre. Most
of these dissidents despise creatures of flesh, and any
meeting with outsiders usually ends in blood being
spilled. Other disciples of the Lord of Blades launch
attacks on targets across Khorvaire: destroying Can
nith workshops, killing nobles known for their abuse of
warforged, and seizing shipments of weapons or arcane
research to further deplete their enemy.
To the flesh-and-blood citizens of Khorvaire, the Lord
of Blades is a figure of terror and pain. But the war
forged under his sway (and some objective observers of
other races) believe that his rage is fueled by the injus
tice heaped upon the warforged after their creation. The
warforged were treated as disposable soldiers, almost
slaves, during the war, and the postwar arguments over
what rights the warforged should be granted-as if fun
damental rights were meant to be bestowed or withheld
by political authorities-gave the warforged themselves
no voice, as if they were still the property of their cre
ators. The Lord of Blades' call to action is appealing to
many warforged because it is grounded in legitimate
grievances, even if the proposed action is abhorrent.
Compared to the total number of warforged created
and deployed in combat during the Last War, the follow
ers of the Lord of Blades are not especially numerous.
His existence and message are well-known in the coun
tries bordering the Mournland (especially Breland), but
less familiar in the rest of Khorvaire. Hoping to swell
the ranks of his followers, the Lord of Blades has agents
spreading his apocalyptic message in every city with sig
nificant warforged populations.THE LORD OF BLADES IN THE WAR
The Lord of Blades didn't appear in the world until after
the Day of Mourning. Only he knows what his identity
was before then, but many suppositions have been put
forth. Some scholars say that he was originally a war
forged named Bulwark, the personal bodyguard of King
Boranel of Breland. Others believe that he was the last
warforged to emerge from the creation forges at Eston,
completed in the last moments before the Mourning.CHAPTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES