Eberron Ep. 1: Frequent Flyers on Spirit Airlines (The Sharnbound Saga)

Welcome to Sharn!!!

Well, not yet, I suppose. Our story will begin with three adventurers on their way to a modern-day version of Sharn in the campaign setting of Eberron.

This campaign will host a rotating cast of player characters because scheduling is the true BBEG, and Kade has a bunch of friends who have asked to play D&D with him over the years!

Our adventurers for this session are:
A Dragonborn Warlock/Bard named Nessiderok (Sid), who made a literal deal with the devil
A Warforged Artificer named V1KT0R, who is one of the few Warforged surviving the last war purge.
A Changeling Bard named Vel, who has changed their identity so many times, they can't remember who they really are.

In this episode, our adventurers board an Airship bound for the City of Sharn. They encounter Halfling Mobster Pirates with Tommy Guns, an electric elemental powering the airship they stand on, and a whole slew of NPCs to talk to as the party goes down.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Hello, welcome to Knocked Prone. It has been a minute since I've recorded. I'm in a room with a bunch of wonderful D&D players, and we're going to play a little game of Eberron, and we are putting a little twist on it. We are having the Modern Manual, which is just a resource that was online derived from the D&D rules that were the Unearthed Arcana that were then expanded for a modern D&D setting. So we're going to be playing in the city of Sharn, and I will get into Sharn in a moment. But first, again, I'm Kade Backus, and I am joined by the players to my left. I'm Ashley, and I am playing as Velle. I'm Loy, and I am playing as Sid. I am Peyton, and I am playing as V1kt0r. Wonderful. So let's jump into Sharn. However, your characters haven't quite reached Sharn. We're going to have each of you are about to board this airship on the way to Sharn. Everyone roll for initiative really quick. This is going to be with a D20, and add your initiative bonus. It's a Whopping nine. Nine. I got a four. Seven. Seven. All right. With a big nine. I rolled a nat one, for the record. First roll of the game, I rolled a nat one. Love it. Love it. That bodes well. So let's go with Victor. You are walking around the docks of this airship. I say docks. It does very much look kind of like a fishing dock. But these ships, you know, ascend into the air. You are standing in line. You've received your ticket for the ship. They informed you you only needed one ticket, because you are carrying behind you a little wagon. And go ahead and tell me what your character looks like, and tell me about your character as you are walking up this ship deck. Victor is a small Warforged gnome. He is a creation of Ciri, that is no longer around. And he is moving to Sharn to try and figure out what to do next with his life. He is silver skinned. He has got orange gem-like eyes that glow. Not a lot of facial expressions, because he doesn't have a mouth. He just has a straight face with eyes, pretty much. And the little wagon he's carrying behind him has a large shrub in a pot. He's got red leaves and green stems. Perfect. So as you are wheeling your wagon wheels for your shrub over these rickety planks, and you look around at the other ships that you aren't in line for, and you notice in front of one of these ships is an empty, as in unattended, cart table. However, as you look upon the cart table, you see that there is a blueprint. It looks very official, but totally unattended. All the other people on the dock are kind of looking the other way or otherwise preoccupied. What would you like to do? Um, and just for a clarifying question, airship, is this dirigible blimp, or is this sailboat with lift? This, currently it is docked in the water. It looks like it would be a sailboat. However, you know that this will have a blimp-like structure that emerges from it and carries it into the air. It's both. It's both. Goodness. Anyhow, cart table with blueprint. Yes. How far away am I? You are 10 feet away from it. So I can like see it, but I can't like... You can't see what the blueprint is of, necessarily. Does anybody else seem to be paying attention to said cart table? I will take a gander at it and see what... Um, go ahead and make me an arcana check. Go ahead and do it with advantage, actually, because this is who would probably know about. Nine. Nine. All right. With a nine, you are going to recognize this as being a form of explosive. You're not sure what the materials are, but it is a blueprint for an explosive. That's what you get with a nine. Does it look like a weapon or does it look more like a mining tool or something? It looks more like something that would be used to be weaponized. Does not look like a detonator, like a dynamite stick that you would throw inside of a mining shaft. It looks like a circular, almost like a landmine. And as you're looking it over, this blueprint, you hear calling from aboard the ship that you have a ticket for. Oh no! I don't take it with me. Perfect. But I'm also aware of the fact that if something goes kaboom and I have the blueprint for the device in question, it's going to make me look really suspicious. So I am going to put it in my bag. Perfect. All right. So you tuck it away in your magical bag of holding. You open your bag of holding. You see the whole universe for a second. And then you put the blueprint in and you close it and it is gone. But you know it's there and you can find it. And with that, Victor, I board the ship. Perfect. All right. And with a nine, I should have put these in order. We're going to join Vel. You are also on this dock. You have not met any of your comrades as of late. However, you are kind of panicking in this moment because you are realizing that the past that you typically have had a different persona than you are currently as. Basically, your passport photo looks nothing like you because you are a changeling. And what are you feeling in this, Vel, as you're looking over your passport of a past identity? I start, my mind is racing of like, is this a face I've used recently? Is this a face of someone who's died? Because that's on a time. And I've changed so many faces in the last 24 hours. Do I actually know? Can I get back to what it looks like? I start to kind of think of like, okay, I get close to it, right? Like, okay, this face kind of looks like an elven I've seen. Okay, so maybe I could go a little darker. Or I notice that my photo looks a lot like maybe someone on the dock. Like, could I pass as someone who looks very similar? Like, does this place feel like it's that guarded? I would attempt to look like near the photo, but I can't look exact, right? Because I don't remember how to get back to this exact face. Yeah, would you, I'm going to give you a choice of a role here. Would you rather a charisma role with your spellcasting focus to try and conjure your essence? Or would you rather a stealth role? Because like, is this coming from a place where you are trying to be somebody you are not? Or is this coming from a place of survival? I just need to look like this person. I think this is a place of I'm going to try to stealth as I just need to get through this. Don't have the mental capacity to go further than that. Perfect. All right, go ahead and roll me a stealth check. And again, roll that with advantage. A nat 20. Roll it again just in case you get another nat 20. That'd be a 23. Oh, nice. Okay, well, perfect. With your natural 20, you're looking around. You're kind of, you're freaking out for a second. But then you're like, I got this. Like, I know who I am. I can get back to where I am right now. Go ahead and roll me another d20 straight. No bonuses. Eight, eight. All right. You are going to find on the docks as you are looking around, looking in the reflections of the dock water and trying to make sure that you are perfectly matching the face that is on this. You are going to find in the water is going to be floating a small pager. And as you look upon this pager, it has a little message that flashes across the screen that says, hi, Val. Okay, kind of creepy. But I think I'm going to grab it because for one message, there must be another message. Exactly, exactly. So you pick up this pager and it gives like a happy little ringtone as you pick it up. And it doesn't give you another message, but it seems to be pleased that you have it. Pager friend. New pager friend. Unlocked. And with that, you hear an audible and you feel confident. You look at your reflection and this passport and you feel like I got this a hundred percent. Perfect. And do you board the ship then? Yeah, I'm going to pocket this new pager because somebody clearly wants to get ahold of me and I'm going to confidently board this aircraft. And then lastly, we're going to go with Sid. Sid, you are running late. You told Thorla Hammerfall, the dwarven singer of your punk rock band, that you would be at the ship dock at eight o'clock and it is 8.05. And you've heard the all aboard from way down the way, but you are far away from the ship dock. Go ahead and tell me, what was Sid doing in order to be so late today? I think Sid was up pretty late last night. Big show, after party. Two other members of the band aren't even there. He's definitely running pretty hard and fast, being as big as he is, a dragon born 6'5". Not very agile at getting through a crowd. And I think the anxiety of not just getting left behind, but also Thorla ripping into him for being so late is starting to chew at the back of me. Perfect. So you are able actually... Go ahead and roll me an athletics check or acrobatics check as you are trying to jostle through the crowd to get towards the ship. I got an eight on the die plus one either way. It's the same modifier. So that's going to be a mixed success. You are able to kind of get through about halfway and then you hear the engine start to honk like it's about to leave. And you are going to just... The frustration starts bubbling up in your throat and you just let out this big exasperated, and a bunch of fire is going to shoot out above you. And the crowd is parted like the Red Sea as they see you coming with fire exhausting from your dragonborn mouth. And you get to the ship dock and you got there way quicker than you thought you would. The ship hasn't left. They're still doing their onboarding checks. They're still scanning the tickets of the last few people who are barely at the gate as they are about to take off. But right before you leave, you hear a little chaos in the back of your mind as your patron, Mal, is going to seep into the back of your mind and say, look at that ship. And the ship right across the way to yours, there's just this big open space, big wooden space that looks pretty keen for some graffitiing. I think he, hearing her in the back of his head, he probably kind of lurches a little bit. Steam locomotive coming almost to a halt immediately, feels the tugging of her fingers pulling him towards the other ship. And I think he'd be a little bit resistant knowing, again, Thorla is right there, probably can see him at this point, probably tapping her foot, looking all pissed. And, but he knows that there are consequences to ignoring Mal. So I think he would reach into his bag and get the arcane spray can that is in his inventory and go over and tag it with one of Mal's runes. Perfect. Go ahead and roll me a sleight of hand check as you do this. And go ahead and add a D10 to it with your warlock's blessing, or your patron's blessing. Wait, 18? 18. And eight. Eight? So eight and 18? Yes. So 26. This is a phenomenal mark. It glows with arcane magic. Mal gives you a pat on the back and Cade gives you just a small point of inspiration. Go ahead. You can turn those in. The way that I roll inspiration, it's basically auto advantage on any roll you want to have. Also, I have a bunch of buttons back here. Actually, you know what? Everyone have a button too. So you tag this ship, you board the ship, assumedly, and you find Thorla through the crowd and the ship takes off into the sky. Did I see him graffiti? Actually, yeah. Go ahead and both, and Victor, go ahead and roll me perception checks. I really hope you did. That is a nat 20. All right. I got a six. Well, with a natural 20, you actually are going to see this happen. Go ahead and roll D20. 17. You see Cid tagging. What is the initial feeling as you see Cid tagging on the wall? He must be claiming something of his. Maybe he owns that ship. Yeah. And as you are looking at Cid, you are thinking about maybe he owns the ship and a cloth is going to hit over your face and cover over your scanner. And this is a cloak of billowing. So what this does is this is a cloak that once you put it on, it billows. That is all of it. That's the whole thing. Does it require attunement? No, it just billows. I will just put it on. Yeah. And it looks like wind is running through it when there is no wind running through it, but then the wind starts running and then it runs extra fast. But when you take this cloak off of your face, Cid is gone and boarded on the ship. The sky ship takes off into the air. It is about the cabin that you are in. The passenger floor or the passenger deck is about 60 feet by 80 feet. In the top of this sky ship, you see at the mast at the front of the ship, usually the mast would kind of be at the center. However, this mast, it looks like an aquarium, kind of like a crystal ball aquarium looking thing. And on the inside of it, you see an electric elemental is captured inside of it and is powering the ship with its electricity. And y'all are free to walk about the cabin. You see in the back left-hand corner of the room are a bunch of like leftover boxes that couldn't quite make it into the storage area. In the center of the ship, there is the hatch that leads down to the engine room where all of the workers are working on keeping the ship running in the right direction. In the corner opposite to the crates, you see a halfling sitting in a chair and all throughout the large chair, should I say, like a little throne. And then all throughout the room, you just see people coming and going, looking like they are enjoying the fancy life on top of this airship. What would you guys like to do? I think Sid would be sitting next to Thorla. And I think he would have taken notice of the means of power and be weighing in his mind. I think he'd be immensely displeased by an entity being used in such a way and be questioning whether it was a job that this person's getting paid for or something that probably needs to get rectified. And so I think he'd be sitting back there with Thorla weighing some of that in his mind. Vel is kind of hidden in the shadows, kind of surveying and figuring out who are the players in this room, what, is there something I can get out of them? One, is there someone I should be keeping an eye on? Is there someone who's keeping an eye on me? Yeah, go ahead and roll me a insight check. Whoa, okay, y'all, perfect. Okay, so Vel, you are kind of surveying the ship. You're keeping an eye out for people who might be looking for you. And you see two strangers in the corner that are both gnomes. You know that gnomes are typically kind of like guard-esque, like they seem to be part of the gnomish house that is like the police force house, the Trust, is it? The Trust. The Trust. And they aren't, they're talking what they think is quietly, like, well, I hope there isn't any nefarious business on board this plane. No, I hope that it's all okay. And one of them mentions as one saying is like, yeah, yeah, nefarious, like, we're looking for Vel? And you hear as they hush each other for a moment and they start communicating again, but you would know that yes, you are actually currently being looked for on this ship by two gnomes. Do I notice a place where I could turn or hide? Yeah. And take on a new face now that I'm on board? Yes. At the back left of the ship, you see there is four or three large container, like boxes that are about people sized. So they, in the back corner of the ship, that you could tuck yourself away behind and be unseen as you shift into something else. And roll me a luck check. So that's just a D20, no additives. 11. Okay, roll me a D4. I'm sorry, I like rolling dice. Kind of the game. Three. Three, okay. You are behind these boxes and you are going to notice three things with a three on the D4. One, there is another person back here that you would recognize with the telltale sign of a changeling unable to fully transform. They have this very distinct white silver streak in their hair and they are also panicking, trying to shapeshift into someone else. And then you notice one of these boxes is breathing and one of these boxes is beeping. That is what you notice. And as you are walking back, this changeling gets all wide-eyed as they look at you with your natural 20 disguise of a changeling with no telltale signs of being a changeling. What would you like to do? I think in this instance, even though I can feel for what is happening, I choose not to flash anything that would show that here I am also a changeling. I think I would like to stay hidden enough that even though I can feel for my counterpart, I don't acknowledge that we are both changelings. Do I sense the box is breathing like the box itself is breathing or something in the box is breathing? Something in the box is breathing. However, it is large enough that the eaves of the wood are creaking open as this thing is breathing inside of the box. Too small of a box for whatever is inside of it. Whatever is inside of it is breathing. And you notice the other changeling, it has clocked eyes on this other box. And that was one of the reasons that they didn't notice you coming up at first. And they're just dead stare, unable to speak looking at this box breathing. That was currently thinking, okay, my thought is I could get a lot of heat off myself if I choose to maybe become more of a younger looking gnome, right? As a changeling, I cannot change my exact size or my clothes. So I would like to take on a persona of someone that's quite younger. And maybe I can go back to these guards and shift, let someone else be like, hey, there is something going on here that is bigger than me as a changeling in this situation. Yeah. So you shapeshift into this younger gnome with your previous success. I'm not even gonna have you roll for it. And you walk over to these gnome guards. And what are you going to say? The trust. You walk over to these two members of the trust. They both stand at salute. And one speaks before the other. One has a super wrinkly tunic on. And the other has a set of sunglasses on. They're like the classic police officer sunglasses. And one, the one with the wrinkly tunic says, halt! And who are you there? My name is Wrinkly. And this is private gnome name. At your attention. And Wrinkly says, Wrinkly? Sergeant Wrinkly? Captain to be? Sir, sir, I don't know what to tell you. But there's a box at the corner. And I think it's breathing. And it's big and it's scary. And it's probably gonna like jump out of there. And you're supposed to help us and save us, right? Like you're in charge. Yeah, go ahead and roll me a persuasion check with advantage. That would be a 24. Wow. Gnome is going to say, Right, I suppose it's not right that we keep that. Sergeant, do you know anything of this box? And the sergeant is going to say, Sir, we're supposed to keep that on the secret. And it seems that, Yes, yes, I will go look at this box post haste. And he's going to get up. But as he gets up, you kind of get the feeling that he knows about this box. This kind of seems like, you know when somebody goes hunting in the safari when they're not supposed to go hunting in the safari? Poaching! I was like, what's that word? It seems that whatever is in this box is a poaching prize that these higher ranked individuals may be bringing from wherever they have come from to here. The box is a mimic. The box could be a mimic. We don't know. Always an option. Always an option. You notice that the gnome is going to go over and investigate. And we will resolve that in a moment. Sid, what are you doing as you're in this boat? You've seen, there's kind of a couple commotions going on. People are starting to get freaked out about this box that has kind of come into the communication of the ship. Can I, I'm at 20 to decide what you do? Roll me a D20 to decide what you do. Three, okay. I'm going to decide on a three. If it was above a 10, I was going to do something different. I'm going to go, and instead of investigating the breathing box, he's going to take the time with the commotion and walk over. How far off the ground is the ship at this point? Oh, you are well in the air. Like you are cruising speed, altitude. The fasten seatbelt sign is turned off. Great. So I think he's going to go over to the elemental. In this world, elementals, they sentient beings? Yes. He's going to tap on the glass. He's going to kind of wait there for a second, see if he gets the elementals attention. He's going to say, hey mate, this situation you're in, this, uh, this is something you're, is this a job? Are you doing a job here? Or is this, is this, uh, Force letter. Is this an not so good situation for you? And then I think he'd wait to see if he got a response from the elemental. Yeah, go ahead and roll me a check. Plus two. 20 on the, on the half. I'll allow it. I'll allow it. Respect the net 20, man. All right. Uh, with a natural 20, the elemental is going to look at you and is going to say in the exact voice that is, uh, the cyber chase monster that I can't remember the name of, but that's exactly who I'm picturing for this elemental. Some people call this captivity. I would also call this captivity. Okay. In that case, Sid is going to start to feel this itch in the back of his head. He doesn't know if it's Maul or not. It could just be his own, his own inner voice. Sometimes it's a little hard to keep the two straight. And I think he, he's going to ask the elemental, if you were to be alleviated of your duties, what would the repercussions be for the good patrons on this ship? Yeah, uh, he's going to... How immediate would our descent be perhaps? Put a hand on the, uh, glass and you were going to see small cracks start to form on this, uh, this fishbowl like, uh, aquarium that this elemental is in, that's powering the engine. And actually a small little guy is going to pop out. A bit of the elemental's essence is going to pop out. And a small floating spark is going to exit the ship. The aquarium that is holding this elemental, a small bit of the elemental will escape. Does it seem like it, uh, is escaping to run away far away, like freedom? Or is it, is it just energy dissipating? Oh, it's, it's like hanging out. Oh, like a, like a friend, like a little buddy. Yeah, like a little buddy. Think Sid would acknowledge that, like, does it seem like this is like the elemental's way of like kind of experiencing the outside world while still doing this job? Like it's like a little, like looking through the bars of the cage at the birds singing outside, or is this now a separate being? This seems to be separate. Okay. Not necessarily like, like the child of this or whatever, but this, this is like, it seems like if, if this was a cell, this is now split and it is two cells and you are hanging out with the very small part of this elemental that is, oh, it's like a worm. If you cut a worm in half, the worm grows into two worms just like that. Okay. But one is just really small, a small one. I think Sid, Sid does not like this kind of thing. So I think he looks back at Thorla, gives her a, uh, a hand sign, thumbs up, plus, uh, maybe a pound in the fist. And she, she knows what that means. She, I think would, of table. Is it okay if I cause a situation? You can have a situation. Okay. Are you guys, are, are we okay for situations to be caused? Sure, have at it. All opposed? Okay. In that case, I think she would go and try and cause as much of a distraction as she could. Thorla. Thorla. Perfect. And she being a rock singer, she's pretty good at being loud and causing her distraction. I think Sid would get down on his hands and knees, pull out his guitar, which is, was given to him by Maul and is a magically reinforced guitar and would take a attack action on the glass and see what he could do to that. Go ahead and roll me an attack to hit and roll it with advantage. A 16 on the die and I add a plus one. Yes. So 17. 17 to hit. Oh wait, with advantage? With advantage. An eight. All right. So with a 17, this blast of this like sonic boom of stoner sonar sound is going to come out of your guitar. It's going to reverberate off of the glass. It's going to match frequencies, the pitch of the glass, which fun fact causes glass to shatter. And this glass is going to shatter and this elemental is going to escape. And as this elemental escapes, you hear the ship go two floating parts and, uh, everyone go ahead and roll me an initiative. Sid's a problem. Oh, it's good. It's great. 18. 18. 15 this time. All right. So we're going to start off with a status report at the top of the round. I'm actually going to give you guys a surprise round because I was not expecting this and I love it. Since you caused this Sid, I'm going to have you roll me a D6. I got a two. A two. All right. With this huge crack of arcane explosion, the engine room, you hear a concussive and, uh, the ship is going to start falling. You're still in the air. How this is going to work. The first dice you will roll is a D12. If you roll the same number twice in a row, your ship stays.