A group of adventurers are hired by Professor Moonsong of Morgrave University for a dangerous expedition. Once abroad the airship Cloudsliver, they learn that the professor has hidden motives when the crew is drawn into a deadly confrontation. After a fierce sky battle, the adventurers find startling secrets aboard a mysterious airship and begin to uncover a deeper conspiracy.
Player Characters: Grannok Twinpipes (Michael), half-orc soldier; Silver Codex (Raphael), warforged sage; Sharyl Fiennes (Mitch), aberrant dragonmarked human charlatan; Flash (Suhwan), goblin acolyte of the Silver Flame
What’s Past Is Prologue
The continent of Khorvaire was once ruled by the Kingdom of Galifar which had stood for nine centuries. Following the death of the last monarch, King Jarot, the kingdom was torn apart by a war of succession. The ensuing civil war lasted for a hundred years and consumed the entire continent. The long and deadly conflict known as the Last War finally came to an end in 994 YK… on the Day of Mourning.
I.
994 YK (Year of the King)
Professor Moonsong was a tenured professor of 20 years in Morgrave University’s Department of History and Acquired Cultures, located in Sharn the City of Towers. A ruggedly handsome man in his early forties, he had recently returned from an expedition to a faraway continent before calling together this gathering of adventurers at the Golden Horn, one of Morgrave University’s on-campus wine lounges. The walls of the university wineroom were lined with shelves full of obscure tomes, but few of the professor’s guests were interested in books. They were all contractors who had been offered a handsome paycheck to join Professor Moonsong’s next expedition which was due to commence the following morning. They would board the airship Cloudsliver and accompany the professor to an undisclosed destination. Wherever they were going, the work was likely to be hazardous and most of the contractors looked like they had seen their fair share of fighting, whether it was in the War or on the streets of Sharn.
One such individual was a half-orc named Grannok Twinpipes. He had joined the Brelish army and put his skill with a greatclub to good use on the front lines. But the other human soldiers of his regiment had refused to show him any respect. So Grannok left the army and became a deserter. Now, he was working as a mercenary, one of several who had received Professor Moonsong’s invitation.
Grannok tried to stand out from the crowd by flexing his muscles, but soon found himself outmatched by a brawny human named Terry, one of Professor Moonsong’s personal assistants. All the professor’s assistant wore yellow armbands to distinguish themselves from the contractors. When Terry tore his armband in the arm flexing contest, a nearby assistant immediately brought him a replacement.
A man in a feather plumed hat and a rapier at his side looked intently at the yellow armbands. But in truth, this man looked at everything intently. He was no ordinary human but a warforged wearing a hat of disguise. Even among the warforged, this particular unit was special, for its memory banks contained vast stores of knowledge, including the personnel files of the Brelish armed forces. This warforged was called the Silver Codex, which was more of a title than a name. The Silver Codex had come to this meeting in the hopes of unraveling a mystery. A journal kept by two previous Silver Codexes contained notes on a mystery location called Whitehearth. The Silver Codex was actively browsing the titles of the books on the walls, greeting the other passing guests politely, if awkwardly. Perhaps his awkwardness and obvious lack of guile kept wary eyes away.
Not far from the Silver Codex, there sat a beautiful young woman in a shimmering black robe. On this occasion, she had chosen this color for her shiftweave clothing to blend in with the shadows of the parlor. For she too was in search of information. She was Sharyl Fiennes, a human woman with an inhuman secret. She possessed an aberrant dragonmark, which she kept well hidden from view. Sharyl’s had lived her entire life wondering who she was. Her memories were a jumbled mess. Sometimes she even saw flashes of moments in which she was a man or something other than human. The only certainty was her dragonmark which bestowed her with dangerous powers and would surely inspire fear if discovered.
Sharyl warily and discreetly pulled a large leatherbound tome from the shelf. It was a treatise on Siberys Dragonmarks. The front cover was studded with tiny amber gemstones. Sharyl was startled when she realized that they were real Siberys dragonshards! She had just cracked the spine and flipped to a random page when the tome was suddenly snatched away from her. Sharyl looked up and saw Professor Moonsong holding the tome. He was looking at the page with great interest.
“How interesting,” said the professor. “Tell me my dear, what fascinates you about this rather obscure field of scholarship?”.
“Oh professor, I am always interested in learning about new topics,” Sharyl replied evenly. “Case in point, I would very much like to know more about where we are going tomorrow. So far we have been told precious little about our destination and the task for which we were hired.”
“You will know soon enough,” the professor answered nonchalantly. “In fact, the sooner we rest for the evening, the sooner you will find out.”
With that, the professor clapped his hands. The conversations, carousing, and armflexing came to a halt. Everyone turned their attention to the professor who spoke in a deep and booming voice.
“I hope you have all had your fill. Your tabs for the evening have been closed. Now, rest up! We will depart on the Cloudsliver at the break of dawn.”
The parlor began to empty as the contractors filed out and headed to their chambers. Watching the whole scene from a corner of the room were the keen eyes of a young goblin acolyte. His name was Flash, and he was an orphan raised in a temple of the Silver Flame in Lower Dura. Flash had always believed that he could hear the voice of the Silver Flame. And the voice had told him, through the omens that he read with his bag of teeth, that he was meant to come to this gathering and seek out several other individuals. Having lived his entire life in the temple, he felt out of place in this crowd. He grew even more uneasy when he realized that the mood and demeanor of the attendees suggested that not all the people in the wineroom were devout followers of the Silver Flame or the Sovereign Host. He sensed the presence of dark influences, but he could not pinpoint where it was hidden. Yet he was certain that the Voice of the Flame had a purpose in store for him. His teeth had told him so.
Sharyl also felt uneasy. When Professor Moonsong had turned to leave, Sharyl had seen the tip of a dragonmark hidden beneath his collar. And the yellow armbands worn by his assistants carried the insignia of the infamous Boromar Clan, the largest criminal organization in Sharn.
II.
The Cloudsliver was a sleek airship with a large cargo hold and cannon ports on either side, indicating that it was well armed which was not unusual given the danger posed by sky pirates and privateers. The most peculiar thing about its appearance was the lack of an insignia of House Lyrandar, the dragonmarked house that built the airships and whose pilots alone could fly them. That meant this particular airship, along with the pilot’s contract, had been leased at great expense for Professor Moonsong’s expedition.
When the crew had boarded, the Cloudsliver ascended from the dock and climbed high into the morning sky. Sharn grew smaller and smaller beneath the airship until the immense city finally vanished beneath the clouds.
The Cloudsliver’s crew, made up of Professor Moonsong’s assistants and contractors, busied themselves with work aboard the vessel. However, Grannok Twinpipes, the Silver Codex, Sharyl Fiennes, and Flash were not given any tasks at all. They had not seen Professor Moonsong since they began their voyage. When any of them asked the professor’s assistants what they should be doing, they were simply told to wait and be ready. But be ready for what? Where were they going and what was their ultimate purpose? One of the assistants let slip that this job would make them all very rich, but he said no more after that.
Finally, Sharyl turned to the other three adventurers and spoke.
“It seems we three have something in common. None of us have been given any duties, and none of us seem to know what we’re doing here.”
“I’m not sure either, but the Voice told me to come,” said Flash the goblin acolyte, rattling his bag of teeth.
“Hey, little friend, what can your Voice tell me about this?” Grannok Twinpipes asked, showing a fortune teller’s card with a portrait that looked exactly like Grannok. Flash looked at the card intently then began to consult the teeth in his bag.
“Um, okay. What I meant was, what were we hired for? What does Professor Moonsong want with people like us? Do you have any ideas, Mr. Feather Plumed Hat?”
“I am most certain a person, fellow air-breather. But I would like to correct you. My proper designation is not ‘Feather Plumed Hat.’ Instead, you may refer to me as Silver… I mean, Bronze Book. Can you give me directions to Whitehearth, by any chance?”
Sharyl rubbed her temples and cursed the hand that fate had dealt her.
“Okay, guys. I have an idea,” Sharyl began again. “If we work together, maybe we can all find the answers we are seeking.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We can start by figuring out what is inside the cargo hold of this airship.”
The adventurers had all seen the locked door to the cargo hold, but no one other than the assistants were allowed to enter. One of the assistants regularly checked the lock to ensure that it had not be tampered with. Flash kept a lookout for other crewmembers while Sharyl and the others snuck up to the door. Having no lock-picking tools, Sharyl tried to jimmy the lock open with the tip of her dagger, with help from the Silver Codex who held the lock in place. However, the tip of her dagger snapped off inside the keyhole. Grannok tried to scrape the metal fragment out of the lock, but only managed to scratch up the lock even more.
Realizing that they could not get through the door, they decided to attempt a more dangerous method. The outer door to the cargo hold at the aft of the airship had a small gap that a child, or a goblin, might squeeze through. Flash began to climb over the side of the ship while the others hid and watched. But the goblin was grabbed by his collar and pulled back from the railing.
Flash came face to face with Terry, the professor’s brawny human assistant. The adventurers had realized by now that Terry was the captain of the assistants, not to be confused with the captain piloting the airship. Terry knelt down and spoke to Flash in an authoritative voice.
“Now, just what were you doing over there, young one?”
“I’m sorry, Captain Terry. But the Voice told me to do it!” Flash looked up at Terry with large, frightened eyes.
Terry’s face softened, and he spoke to the goblin in a firm voice as a father might scold his son.
“You could have gotten yourself killed! An airship is no place for games. When I was your age, I got in all sorts of trouble, but if I took a fall I always got back on my feet. That was on land, on solid ground. On an airship, I always followed orders. Up here, you can get into some real trouble, and if you fall you won’t get back up!”
Sharyl saw her opportunity and spoke to Captain Terry.
“Captain, I’m so relieved I found you. I saw a big, scary-looking fellow sneaking out of the cargo hold. He somehow opened the open and put it back on the door. My goblin friend saw him, too.”
“Um, yes! I was so frightened!” Flash added.
Terry became furious and went to check the cargo hold door. Sure enough, the lock was in place but looked scratched and damaged. Terry grabbed a nearby assistant, who had last checked the door, and demanded an explanation. The assistant looked shocked and confused.
“But captain, I swear it wasn’t like this a few minutes ago.”
“Open the door this instant. I’ll check the cargo personally,” said Terry.
The assistant struggled with the key, which had a hard time fitting in the lock since the tip of Sharyl’s dagger was still lodged inside. When he finally got the door open, Terry stormed inside. Sharyl, Flash, and the others peered over his shoulders and saw a stockpile of unmarked barrels piled high upon the walls. Grannok and the Silver Codex, having experience in the Brelish army, immediately recognized the barrels as military-grade explosives.
After inspecting the cargo, Terry stepped out of the door, satisfied that nothing was amiss. Just then, the bell on the airship sounded an alarm. Terry bellowed out in a booming voice.
“Battle stations! Get ready, you maggots! This is what you were hired for!”
The nearby cloud was parted by a large airship that entered into view. The vessel was made of black wood, and its hull was lined with gleaming black metal. No mast or banner could be seen, and no insignia marked the owner of the vessel. However, the crew members aboard vessel, clad in black leathers and tunics, wore the Gorgon emblem of House Cannith upon their breasts.
Upon the Cloudsliver, all the assistants and contractors sprung into action. The vessel took a parallel flight path with the black airship. The port-side cannon doors of the Cloudsliver swung open, revealing cannons loaded with explosive barrels. Professor Moonsung finally emerged from his quarters, dressed for action. He wore leather armor and wore an artificer’s bracers, each fitted with a roulette of wands. Small mechanical arms swung the desired wand into the professor’s waiting hands. With a wand in each hand, he looked less like a professor and more like a corsair striding into battle.
“All hands, fire at will! I want that airship and its cargo!” the professor bellowed.
Explosive barrels were launched from the Cloudsliver’s cannons, but the black airship was surrounded by an entropic force field that reflected many of the barrels back upon the Cloudsliver. Both vessels were damaged by the ensuing explosions. Remarkably, the hull of the black airship began to repair itself. When the Cloudsliver had closed the distance, the contractors and assistants led by Professor Moonsong and Captain Terry boarded the other vessel and engaged the enemy crew in hand-to-hand fighting.
The Silver Codex, Sharyl, and Flash, having realized that they had unwittingly joined a crew of sky pirates, stay back from the fighting. Grannok took up his greatclub and prepared to join in the skirmish when Sharyl pulled him aside.
“Don’t throw your life away, Grannok.”
“But this is what I was hired to do. It’s my job,” said Grannok.
“You always have a choice. Come with us, instead,” Sharyl insisted.
Grannok looked thoughtful. At last, he spoke.
“Okay. I will follow you and protect you, Sharyl.”
The four adventurers hid aboard the Cloudsliver and watched the battle unfold. Apart from a small contingent of sentinels, most of the Cannith crew looked like researchers who were not prepared for a close-quarters battle. They were no match for Professor Moonsong and his mercenaries. After several intense minutes of cannonfire and melee combat, the Cannith crew had all been slaughtered. But the battle had taken its toll upon the Cloudsliver and her crew. Many of the assistants and contractors had been killed, and the explosions caused by the barrels had caused severe damage to the Cloudsliver’s hull and elemental binding components.
Sensing impending disaster, the four adventurers snuck aboard the enemy airship, which looked structurally intact. Then they watched as the elemental ring that surrounded the Cloudsliver grew fainter and sputtered before finally going out. Without the elemental to power it, the Cloudsliver began to plummet.
Professor Moonsong looked alarmed and shouted, “No, no, no! This was not part of the plan!”
The professor disappeared into his quarters. Captain Terry ran after him, but turned when he heard the young goblin Flash shouting at him. The adventurers, now aboard the black airship, had let down a rope for Terry. After a moment of hesitation, Terry grabbed the rope just before the Cloudsliver plummeted. Professor Moonsong emerged from his quarters with a satchel in his hand and a look of horror on his face as he fell with the airship.
III.
Sharyl Fiennes quickly took charge of the situation. Terry, being both grateful for his life and realizing that he was outnumbered four to one by the adventurers, acknowledged Sharyl as his new boss. The black airship was still aloft, and it had already repaired itself of the minor damage to its hull. Apart from a few gaping holes left by the exploding barrels, the airship appeared to be stable. However, it was not moving, and there was no sign of living crew members or a pilot anywhere.
The contractors began to explore the airship. In the center of the deck was a large structure that held the crew quarters. On the roof of the structure, there was a loaded ballista with six more harpoons stockpiled nearby. At the fore of the vessel, there was the pilot’s nest, but it was empty. All that could be seen were control panels covered with crystalline components, dials, levers and switches. Flash immediately began playing with the controls when a mechanical voice was heard inside the chamber.
“PLANAR ORRERY MUST BE REALIGNED. DESIGNATED PILOT IS NEEDED FOR OPERATION OF THE PLATINUM EGRET.”
“Platinum Egret! So that’s your name,” Flash wondered out loud. “But who is the pilot, and what is an orrery?”
“PLEASE DESIGNATE A PILOT TO OPERATE THIS UNIT.”
Everyone looked at the small goblin at the control panels.
“Ohh! I’ll do it! My name is Flash! I’ll be the pilot!”
“PILOT DESIGNATION ‘FLASH’ CONFIRMED. PLEASE MANUALLY REALIGN THE PLANAR ORRERRY TO OPERATED THIS UNIT.”
Uncertain what the “planar orrery” could be, the adventurers continued to explore the Platinum Egret. In the large cargo hold at the aft of the airship, they found enough food to sustain a large crew for several weeks, and supplies that could be used to repair the damage to the vessel, if any of them knew how to do it. On the lower levels of the cargo hold, they were shocked by the sight of dismembered warforged body parts hanging on the walls! These appeared to be the parts of inert warforged, before they were imbued with the spark of life in a House Cannith creation forge. In addition, there were dozens of large, fearsome looking warforged in some sort of laboratory. Someone had been experimenting and creating new warforged models. Everywhere the adventurers looked, they saw warforged bodies and limbs made of wood and metal that were splayed open and eviscerated.
In the lowest level of the cargo hold, they found something even more stunning: a large stockpile of crates, each filled with dragonshards! There were Eberron, Khyber, and even Siberys dragonshard of all shapes and sizes. Judging by the number of crates, the contractors guessed that the wealth of dragonshards aboard the Platinum Egret would dwarf the combined wealth of all of Sharn.
In the midst of the crates, there was a large circular door on the floor. When the adventurers opened it, they thought their eyes betrayed them, for they saw the stars of the night sky below them. But how could this be when it was still daytime? Climbing down a ladder, they found themselves in a chamber shaped like an inverted hemisphere whose concave walls were covered with a highly realistic mural of the constellations at night. In the center of the chamber, there was a round metallic globe surrounded by twelve rings etched with archaic glyphs. From his studies at the temple, Flash recognized the names of the twelve known planes of existence:
Daanvi, the Perfect Order
Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams
Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead
Fernia, the Sea of Fire
Irian, the Eternal Day
Kythri, the Churning Chaos
Lamannia, the Twilight Forest
Mabar, the Endless Night
Risia, the Plain of Ice
Shavarath, the Battleground
Syrania, the Azure Sky
Thelanis, the Faerie Court
The contractors studied the murals on the walls and saw that the twelve moons around the world, each corresponding to an outer plane, appeared to be in perfect alignment, yet the rings on the globe were misaligned. They tried aligning the metal rings and found that letters highlighted upon each ring came together to spell the name of a thirteenth plane:
Xoriat, the Realm of Madness.
The mechanical voice they had heard in the pilot’s nest boomed and echoed in the concave chamber.
“PLANAR ORRERY HAS BEEN REALIGNED. THIS UNIT WILL PROCEED TO SHARN FOR REPAIRS. DESIGNINATED PILOT ‘FLASH’, PLEASE REPORT TO THE HELM.”
When Flash returned to the pilot’s nest, the Platinum Egret slowly began to move. Damaged as it was, the vessel made its slow voyage toward Sharn. At their current speed, the flight would take a little over a day’s time.
Terry had not been idle on the deck. He had explored the crew quarters and handed to Sharryl several notebooks he had found. They appeared to be logs kept by the researchers aboard the airship, but they were encrypted by a magical code. Perhaps they might be the key to unraveling the mystery of the Platinum Egret. What was the airship’s purpose? Why were there warforged parts and a fortune in dragonshards on board? Only a dragonmarked gnome of House Sivis could unlock these secrets.
The contractors began to wonder what they would do when they returned to the city. The dragonshards they had discovered were more than what any of them had expected or bargained for. With such a massive fortune, they could live the rest of their lives like kings – if they weren’t murdered for it first. If Professor Moonsong was working with the Boromar Clan, the Boromars would surely be looking for the Platinum Egret and its cargo. And if any of the gangs or Dragonmarked Houses got hold of these dragonshards, the financial leverage they gained could tip the balance of power in the city.
In the end, they realized that the cargo was too dangerous for them to keep onboard. As they came near to Sharn and passed over the Dagger River, the adventurers began to dump the crates of dragonshards overboard. They had dumped a large portion of the cargo before the Platinum Egret approached a dock in Lower Dura.
IV.
Shalindra, a dockside inspector, looked curiously at the black airship that had landed in her port and bellowed at those onboard.
“Come down, you lot. State your business and your cargo. If anything looks off, I’ll have to take a look at your manifest and your cargo hold.”
Five crew members wearing blank uniforms and the Gorgon emblems of House Cannith disembarked from the airship.
“You’re welcome to come aboard,” Sharyl said calmly. “But I should warn you, the deck is a little messy. We had a spot of trouble on the way here when we were ambushed by sky pirates.”
Shalindra went aboard the airship, and her jaw dropped when she saw the bodies strewn across the bloody deck. The inspector demanded an explanation.
Terry nudged Sharyl and whispered: “Um, boss. Can I handle this?”
After Sharyl granted permission, Terry took the inspector aside. The adventurers could not hear the conversation, but they overheard the word “Boromar” spoken at least once. The inspector closed her notepad and left without further inquiry.
When the contractors asked Terry what he had said to the inspector, Terry merely insisted that he had taken care of their problem. But Flash felt that Terry was holding something back. Fearing that the professor’s surviving assistant might have betrayed them, the contractors left Terry alone aboard the airship, promising to return after they had found someone to repair the vessel.
In truth, the adventurers had no intention of returning to the Platinum Egret. Having taken the notebooks found by Terry – and having filled their pockets with dragonshards – the contractors headed to Middle Dura. They were going to the coffeehouse district in Middle Dura wheres gnomes, including members of House Sivis, were known to congregate. Sharyl was looking for one gnome in particular, a gentleman by the name of Geryn d’Sivis. Geryn was a well-known codesmith who was respected for his encryption and codebreaking abilities. He was also an unlucky gambler who had racked up a sizable debt. If there was anyone who could be pressured into breaking the code on the Cannith notebooks, it was Geryn.
As they approached the Half Pint Tavern, a small and cosy inn that catered to halflings and gnomes, they saw a disheveled gnome being toss out of the front door. He picked picked himself up drunkenly and cursed the innkeeper in a slurred voice.
“Dats da lashtime Geryn runsub uh tahb ad yer rundawn plaze…”
After making sure that the coast was clear, the adventurers surrounded the unsuspecting gnome and ushered him into a dark alley.
“Pleased to meet you, Geryn d’Sivis,” said Sharyl. “We’re in a spot of trouble, and we need your assistance.”
Geryn was startled, but he began to sober up when he saw the contractors’ faces.
“Eyyy, don ah know yuh frum sumwar? Ah ha! Ah saw yer faces en da Chronicle dis mornin’!”
Geryn produced the morning edition of the Korranberg Chronicle from his coat pocket. He unfolded it and showed the adventurers their own faces in a small Wanted ad in the back of the newspaper, offering a handsome reward for information leading to their capture. A survivor from the Cloudsliver must have identified them and placed a bounty on their heads. Fortunately for the adventurers, the small ad was overshadowed by the bold headline of the frontpage article.
Fishermen find hoard of dragonshards in the Dagger River
The adventurers suspected they had only a few hours before an even larger ad for their bounty appeared in the evening newspaper.
“As you can see, Geryn, we really do need your help. And if you aid us, we’ll make it worth your while,” said Sharyl as she showed the Cannith notebooks to gnome of House Sivis.
“This is my work, my encryption,” said Geryn. “But how did you come by these? Who are you, and what do you want with me?”
“We’ll explain on the way.”
“Where are we going?”
“Out of the city. We want to be anywhere but here.”
V.
As the adventurers and Geryn headed out of Sharn, they passed by the dock where the Platinum Egret was located. From the shadows of a nearby alley, they saw a confrontation between several figures aboard the airship. Terry was joined by a half-orc artificer, who was busy repairing the damage to the vessel, and three large men with clubs, crossbows, and yellow armbands. They were members of the Boromar clan whom Terry must have called for when he spoke to the dockside inspector. The Boromar thugs were in a stand off with a lone figure across the deck. It was Professor Moonsong!
The professor boasted about how he had survived thanks to his feather token. He claimed that the Platinum Egret was his birthright and demanded that the Boromars hand it over to him. But Terry and his posse had no intention of giving up the airship.
After a tense moment, Professor Moonsong drew his wands. The standoff erupted into a fierce shootout abroad the airship. The professor quickly killed Terry’s three minions, trapping them in webs and blasting them with magic missiles. While the professor was distracted, Terry climbed onto the roof of the airship and manned the ballista. He fired the harpoon which pierced Professor Moonsong in the chest. The professor flew off the airship and fell into the dark waters of the Dagger River.
Terry and his half-orc companion entered the pilot’s nest, and the Platinum Egret began to ascend, just as a large group of Boromar gang members approached the dock.
“Captain Terry! What are you doing?” they shouted.
Terry, now the captain of his own airship, tore off his yellow armband and threw it overboard.
“C’mon, Sebastian,” he said to his half-orc companion. “Let’s get outta this dump.”
As Grannok, the Silver Codex, Sharyl, Flash, and Geryn left the city, they saw the Platinum Egret fly east away from Sharn. Geryn was decrypting and read the Cannith notebooks on the way. The process of encryption meant that a gnome encrypting the writing “forgot” the content of the text soon after encrypting it. Now, Geryn began to remember the writing that he had encrypted, and what he understood frightened him.
According to the notes, House Cannith was building an experimental airship that was heavily armed and sentient. In order words, the Platinum Egret was not just an airship but a massive warforged unit! Geryn had heard rumors within the intelligence community, but he had never imagined that such a feat could be achieved. If it was true, would the other dragonmarked houses stand by while House Cannith mass produced a deadly new weapon for the warring nations? Did such powerful weapons belong in the hands of mortal men?
Suddenly, the eastern sky was lit by a blinding flash of light that engulfed the horizon. Everyone covered their eyes, and when they finally opened them, mushroom-shaped clouds, glowing with a queasy purple light, appeared all across the horizon and extended toward the heavens. Slowly, the purple clouds spread out until they merged together, their purple hue turning to a dull, misty gray.
Little did the adventurers know that they were witnessing the end of the Last War. This was the Day of Mourning, when the kingdom of Cyre was utterly destroyed by a mysterious arcane explosion that engulfed the entire nation, covering the land within its borders with the Dead Gray Mist. No one knew the cause of the devastating event that would be known as The Mourning. But the sheer scale and tragedy of the event gave pause to the leaders of the surviving nations. It was enough to bring about a ceasefire and a meeting between the nations at Thronehold, the former seat of the empire of Galifar that once ruled the continent. Soon after, the War came to an end, the warforged were released from their service and were granted their freedom, and the creation forges of House Cannith were shut down.
Yet this was only the prologue to another grand tale. The fighting may have ceased for the time being, but the embers of the Last War still burned across the continent of Khorvaire. And Sharn, the City of Towers, was a powder keg waiting for a stray ember to fall on its fuse.
DDAL-ELW00: What’s Past is Prologue
Rewards
4 Achievement Points
4 Treasure Points
10 Downtime Days
1 Renown Point
Magic Item Unlock
You have unlocked the following magic item, which can be purchased for 1 treasure checkpoint.
Spellshard
Wondrous item, common
This polished dragonshard is bright red and cut by the finest House Cannith artisan. It can hold your favorite work of literature or be a blank slate for your own writing. A spellshard is a polished Eberron dragonshard, sized to fit into the palm of a hand. The shard is imbued with a particular work of literature. By holding the shard and concentrating, you can see its pages in your mind’s eye. Thinking of a particular phrase or topic will draw you to the first section that addresses it, and a simple ritual allows you to add content to the shard.
An arcane caster can use a spellshard instead of a spellbook; the spellshard costs 1 gp per “page” in the shard, and otherwise functions as a mundane spellbook. Spellshards can also be used as diaries or journals.