The Reroll: A Weekly D&D Chronicle (Issue #4)

Note: Hi all! This blog post is later than usual due to a technical error Wix was experiencing. I'm sorry for the delay. Thanks for your understanding!

Welcome back, dear reader, to Roll for Adventure's weekly Dungeons & Dragons chronicle, The Reroll!

In this blog series, I (the Dungeon Master) explain what adventures I plan for my players and what happens when dice hit the table, spinning "thrilling tales of swords and sorcery" from the wide world of Eberron.

The Adventuring Party

This week, a former longtime player from our table was in town and expressed a desire to return for a session.

Every Dungeon Master has an opinion on hosting one-off player characters in a long-term campaign, with some welcoming the shake-up while others preferring to avoid the potential slow-downs new characters create.

Personally, I love having fresh meat...I mean...energy at the table.

A new addition to the party lets the current players reassert how they present their characters, which can be a welcome opportunity when you've been playing the same character for over five years.

So this week, we introduce Monra, a changeling rogue!

Changelings have a unique trait, allowing them to change their appearance at will to anyone they like. This couples nicely with a rogue's penchant for chicanery.

We're also down a player this week and next.

Hellggah, our Talentan halfling and resident rage monster, will fade into the background while her player takes a much-needed vacation.

Last Week's Tale

Our previous session saw the adventuring party arrive in Sharn, City of Towers, by way of a Wish spell.

Upon arrival, they found their former safehouse, an abandoned library in Sharn's dingiest neighborhood, "Fallen," well into a significant construction effort.

With the support of the Brelish crown, the adventurers have been gifted the entire neighborhood to serve as their "Bastion," granting them access to a plethora of resources for their future endeavors.

But their stay in Sharn will be short-lived, as one of the party members, Ilsensine, has a date with the Githyanki war fleet currently hovering over Breland's countryside.

This Week's Plan

Before the players can rush off to battle, they've been encouraged by a silver dragon ally to rendezvous with Breland's monarch, King Boranel, to debrief him on their plan of attack.

King Boranel is currently stationed on Argonth, a mobile fortress that houses most of Breland's military might, where he's been keeping a close eye on their alien visitors.

I liken the situation between King Boranel and the Githyanki to the beginning of the movie Independence Day when the U.S. military scrambles to ascertain the alien invaders' intentions.

However, just as one can't simply walk into Area 51, the players cannot reach Argonth by standard means of travel. And with their airship still parked in an entirely different country, their options are again limited to teleportation.

Behind the Screen

Let's start by taking a look at the actual Teleport spell:

Teleport can take you wherever you want, provided it's a real place on the same plane of existence. But it's the last bit of the spell description I'm focusing on here:

"Your familiarity with the destination determines whether you arrive there successfully."

This part of the spell's description curbs players from popping up wherever they want all willy-nilly, like the evil lich's bathroom during some villainous me-time.

As for this part:

If you don't know, a d100 is a die with one hundred sides, and that table mentioned is this one:

Pretty self-explanatory: Know where you're going or risk ending up somewhere else (or worse.)

You can also teleport to a "permanent (teleportation) circle" or use an "associated object" when teleporting to ensure you reach your intended destination, but there's some magical fine print for those options.

So you CAN teleport into the evil lich's bathroom, provided you possess one of their toiletries.

As for a permanent teleportation circle, imagine drawing a chalk circle in your house and scribbling its edges with a bunch of strange symbols. These symbols act as a password for the circle you drew, called a "sigil sequence."

So, if you later drew a circle with those same symbols at the beach, you'd create a magical gateway from there to your home, accessible whenever you like.

But in the case of Argnoth, we're not going to the beach; we're going to a secure military base.

Argonth's Sigil Sequence

Breland's mobile fortress has a teleportation circle in it, but its sigil sequence isn't something you look up in the Yellow Pages, and whoever has access to Argonth's sigil sequence isn't small potatoes.

Let's come back to that.

Since none of the players have memorized or recorded the Teleport spell, I'll need to give them access to it (like I did with the Wish spell earlier).

That's how spells work in D&D; a capable spellcaster needs the spell committed to memory or recorded in their spellbook to cast it.

House Orien's Dragonmark

Lucky for them, Eberron's House Orien (one of those twelve bloodlines I mentioned in a previous post) possesses the "mark of passage," which grants bearers magic related to transportation and, in some cases, teleportation.

Because of House Orien's innate gifts, they own the train station in Sharn, "Terminus," where they operate a teleportation circle for public use.

Unfortunately, in our story, Terminus was the site of a terrorist attack two in-game weeks ago, so it's temporarily closed for investigation and guarded by the local police force, the Sharn Watch.

So far, in this adventure, we've given the adventurers something to obtain (the sigil sequence) and somewhere to go afterward (Terminus).

But I still need to add one spice to the plot: the new player character.

The Changeling Rogue

The player wanted Monra to be a former member of the Dark Daggers, a changeling-centric crime syndicate from the nation of Aundair.

Their reason for leaving the Dark Daggers would be kept a secret (meaning the player would tell me but keep it from the party). 

Their current goal is to kill a specific target in Sharn, which I ultimately get to decide who.

Obviously, I'm making their target the person with Argonth's sigil sequence. Thus, their goal aligns with the other players' goal, ensuring their alliance (even if they don't trust one another).

But who?

The Lord Mayor of Sharn

Sharn's figurehead, Cathan ir'Demell, is described as "a rotund, bored-looking bureaucrat dressed in fine clothes well tailored to his great bulk."

The only official artwork of Cathan is his 3D model from the MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online, but he gives me big Henry VIII vibes, so I'll put your brain there, too.

We've already dealt with Cathan in past adventures, painting him as a Kingpin wannabe whose 20-year-long reign as Sharn's Lord Mayor was maintained through gold and bloodshed.

Doubling down on his villainy, he also harbors a seething hatred for Hellggah's family, the Boromar Clan, for always standing in the way of his schemes to demolish Sharn's lower-class neighborhoods.

It's safe to say the adventurers don't like him, and the story theme of our Sharn is one of rebirth, so this guy's number is undoubtedly up.

That's our adventure. Now, let's see how it played out.

At the Table

Since the players now run a neighborhood in Sharn, I figured an unannounced visit from Lord Mayor Cathan would be a good way to kick off the session.

I riled up the players with some obvious rage bait, having Cathan whine about King Boranel wasting "Brelish gold" building their Bastion and how the neighborhood would always be shit, no matter how much perfume they spray on it (since Alucard opened his perfumery last week, this dig was personal.)

For Monra's introduction, she disguised herself as a sweet old lady to offer the Lord Mayor some candy on his way out.

He used his cane to bat her away because he hates sweet things AND senior citizens. Then, he exited, leaving Ilsensine as the only one to notice the discarded candy burn through the pavement.

An assassination attempt? On the Lord Mayor? The party is hooked.

Intrigued by the newcomer, the group chatted with Monra in one of their new pubs. Monra revealed their changeling nature and their dirt on Cathan, calling him a traitor to Breland.

He's taking money from the crown of Aundair to work against Sharn's well-being. Aundiar then plans to exploit Sharn's weakness to cripple King Boranel (though Monra doesn't know how, and, frankly, neither do I!)

Monra knows this because Queen Aurala, Aundair's ruler, paid off the Dark Daggers to hide any evidence of this deal. But seeing as this plot could reignite the war, Monra couldn't stomach the Dark Daggers' greed, so they left.

Take notes, ya'll. This is a killer backstory. Hats off to the player.

To prevent any lull after this bomb drop, I interrupted their conversation with a visit from the current head of the Boromar Clan, Ilyra, Hellggah's sister.

(This role-play scene was planned before I knew Hellggah wouldn't be playing this week, but I could make it fit.)

Ilyra restated what Thort said last week: They'd have to reach Argonth via the teleportation circle in Terminus, but they'd need the Argonth sigil sequence.

She informed them that Cathan holds the sigil sequence, describing it as a polished green dragonshard.

She also assured them that should something happen to Sharn's Lord Mayor, the transfer of power was "in good hands."

What's Ilyra Boromar planning?

With their goal clear, they took a moment to rest before taking to the skies in one of Sharn's famous "skycoaches," where they'd discuss a plan.

Since I wanted to respect the players' agency in dealing with Cathan, I purposefully didn't plan out this part of the adventure.

I collect tons of battle maps I can pull from whenever I need one (spare mansions, crypts, sewer tunnels, alleyways, etc.) And seeing as I planned out some unused combat for Terminus last week, I'd repurpose those enemies to be Cathan's bodyguards.

Ultimately, they decided to head for the Lord Mayor's private office above Sharn's city hall to repay his impromptu visit with one of their own.

Credit to Animated Dungeons Maps and Dynamic Dungeons for the maps I used.

This was a fantastic action sequence.

The party split into two groups: Krass, Alucard, and Monra infiltrate the office, while Ilsen, Osz, and Spein stay back on the sky coach, acting as aerial support.

Monra shapeshifted into a Sharn Watch lieutenant and walked through the front door. Meanwhile, Alucard and Krass stayed out of sight by scaling the building outside.

It all culminated at Cathan's private quarters, which was defended by two members of Breland's elite ex-military force, the Redcloak Battalion.

Cathan was inside, entertaining a "guest" of sorts.

I pulled the scene from V for Vendetta when Natalie Portman confronts the creepy bishop. Only it was Cathan wearing nothing but a leather harness, chasing around a gnome dressed as a doll.

As Cathan was preoccupied, the Redcloaks made Monra wait outside the office, forcing her disguise to hold up against inspection.

However, Monra's failed to convince them, prompting a fight to break out.

With the aid of the group on the skycoach, Alucard and Krass find alternate access to Cathan's quarters: a balcony window, which they quickly smashed.

Chaos erupted. Broken glass everywhere. Alucard filled the room with smoke. Swords clashed, and Sharn Watch reinforcements came.

The Roll-Up

Man, what a great session.

I love Sharn. Corrupt politicians, crooked cops, high-speed chase—those classic noir tropes against the medieval fantasy backdrop are quintessential Eberron.

Indeed, there was undoubtedly a slow-down this week, as we still haven't reached the train station sequence. Yet, the Lord Mayor's side story is a necessary reminder that even though the Githyanki are the current looming threat, there's plenty of scum left to clean once they're out of the picture.

I look forward to next week, where we'll resolve the rest of the combat and hopefully see our heroes gain entry into Terminus.

Until then, happy rolling! - Dace