ADVENTURE: Dog Tags

===MISSION BRIEF===

You are investigating the case of some missing members from the Adventurer's Guild. They were last seen in the town of New Cyre and never returned since then. After days of travel you now find yourselves in Sterngate, preparing yourself for the adventure ahead. You are tasked to find Silth Withers in the town and find out more about the adventurers' disappearance and report back to Clifftop Adventurer's Guild for the reward.

REWARDS: 100 GP (to share) for accepting the quest and 100 GP (to share) upon completion.

===OVERVIEW===

The party first meet in the fortress of Sterngate in one of the many Adventurer's Guild branches in the country. Here they can introduce themselves to each other, form a story of how they met or just take up a pre-determined story and proceed with the rest of the adventure. Here, they will also learn more about the quest that is assigned to them, provided in the MISSION BRIEF section above.

They reach the town of New Cyre by nightfall through the roads and find Silth Withers, a retired Adventurer's Guild member and fighter. They learn that the missing members went to Vathirond, a torn down city East of New Cyre to assist the military and fight off the monsters of the Mournlands.

Once they reach Vathirond, they find that the town is no longer a town but a warzone. Here, they'll learn more about where to find the missing members.

===HOOKS===

1. FRIEND. One of the missing members, Cinders Teine (Female Fire Genasi) is a childhood friend of yours. Her family is worried about her sudden silence and wants to learn about what happened or at the very least receive some closure. Finding Cinders will grant you inspiration.
2. JOBS. Jobs are hard to come by in Breland. That's why as soon as you saw that the Adventurer's Guild had an assignment you volunteered yourself as fast as you could. Completing this quest will grant you inspiration.
3. FOLLOWER. You look up to and follow the footsteps of the legendary hunter adventurer Lord Boroman ir'Dayne. You are quick and eager to prove yourself to the world of adventurers in Eberron and took this assignment to add to your growing resume of adventures you've been involved in. Completing this quest grants you inspiration.
4. MOURNLAND HORRORS. You've heard stories about the horrors of the Mournlands but never had the opportunity to see them for yourself. As soon as you heard of an assignment that required you to make a trip to the town of New Cyre (a site that is geographically close to the Mournlands) you saw a chance to potentially satisfy your curiosity. You receive inspiration once you have uncovered the mystery known as the 'Mournland horrors'.

BEFORE BEGINNING: Gentle reminder please refrain from playing with the brush tool and the tokens. Use them for gameplay purposes. I have prepared a story for today's session so it will do you a lot of good if you listen to it and play along. Please cooperate.

When you listen, focus on what you think your character would do in the given situation. This will help you roleplay and enjoy the game a lot better!

===STERNGATE===

"You find yourselves in a small Adventurer's Guild branch in the Brelish fortress called Sterngate. The branch is tiny, cramped and packed with multiple adventurers & employees pacing to and fro across the wooden floors, tending to their businesses. You see some new faces as well as some old ones in the waiting room as you wait for the receptionist to bring you your coin and documentations.
Prior to this moment, you have already agreed to and accepted the assignment to find Silth Withers in New Cyre. Turns out, these new faces before you have also accepted the same assignment. While waiting, you see this as a chance to introduce yourself to new faces. What do you do?"

Give the players some time to roleplay their characters. Once they are done:

"A petite human lady primly dressed in the guild's uniform brings your pouch of 100 gp and sets of instructions that ought to lead you to Silth's house in New Cyre. You are now ready to proceed. Are you ready to go?"

===ROAD TO NEW CYRE===

This is also good chance for the players role play their characters a bit more. Once they are done or wish to arrive at New Cyre sooner, proceed to the next section.

===NEW CYRE===

"After some time travelling, your eyes finally see shapes that resemble a town ahead. As you march even closer, however, you can't help but notice that this town could use some repairs and renovations. New Cyre looks more like a giant slum than a town if you were being truthful.
Life here looks tough. The citizens of New Cyre have stress written all over their faces as they go on about their business. You can't quite figure out why, but you feel that these people have a fire within that drives them to push on.
You followed the directions provided to you and sure enough, you've found yourself at the gates of Silth's house. What do you do?"

...

Silth Withers: A retired member of the Adventurer's Guild who has kept in contact with the group patron despite his status. An older human male fighter, he has a receding hairline with locks of silver hair and a full beard of the similarly colored hair on his face. Although Silth has a wrinkled face that accurately matches his age, he still maintains a fit body and carries a longsword on his belt at all times. He is friendly and amiable but will not take too kindly against people who mistreats him or the citizens of New Cyre.
In case the players are a little more creative than expected, Silth Withers has the stats of a Guard.

...

⦁ New Cyre is the last stop for those who wish to cross into the more dangerous side of Breland.
⦁ Last I heard, them missing adventurers made their way to Vathirond, a town East of New Cyre.
⦁ Before the heroes of the Adventurer's Guild marched into Vathirond, I managed to meet with them and hear their story. I felt that something was bound to go wrong, so I figured I should be the Guild's eyes and ears for them, even though they seemed confident.
⦁ Find the missing adventurers and bring them back alive if possible. In the likelihood that they're dead, kindly retrieve their dog tags and present them to them members at Clifftop Adventurer's Guild. They'll take care of the rest.

1. Cinders Teine. Female Fire Genasi Barbarian. Last seen in Vathirond.

2. Naomi Gearaichean. Female Warforged Cleric. Last seen in Vathirond.

3. Leif Coille. Female Wood Elf Bard. Last seen in Vathirond.

This is the last chance for the party to have a good night's rest before heading into the dangerous territory. If they wish to rest, Silth's house has plenty of beds to spare as well as a free meal from him.

There are places in New Cyre that characters can visit to learn more about Eberron. If they do choose to explore the town, there are 2 locations that might be interesting to them.

Exploration Options:

1. Hope's Mud Cakes:
This small shop serves cheap bite-sized mud cakes made up of an ingenius mixture of edible clay and dough. The shop's leftovers are then given to the less fortunate citizens of New Cyre. Characters can collect 1 Mud Cake per player for free which is equivalent to 1 ration. Additional Mud Cake costs 1 sp per cake.

2. New Cyre's Archive:
A small library built in the middle of the town. Characters can find and collect 2 books from the library. One is a rather small book titled "Town of Hope" which allows characters to access and read The New Cyre entry.
The other is a relatively larger book titled "Our Former Glory" which allows characters to access and read The Mournland's entry.

There's not much else going for this town so characters should rest up and make their way to Vathirond the next day.

===ROAD TO VATHIROND===

Characters can use this time to chit-chat about their day and discuss about their assignment. If they wish to move on to Vathirond, proceed to the next section.

===SWAMPS IN THE ROAD===

"Early to mid afternoon the air around you start to feel cooler than before. It's even getting harder to breathe! The road ahead is disrupted by a huge body of swamp. At the same time the fog in the area starts to grow heavier with each step you take. According to the map, a few more miles straight would've brought you to the gates of Vathirond. One problem. Miles and miles of swamps and fog stands in your way. What do you do?"

Making a huge detour around the swamps will eat up more time than the characters would like so the best option would be to find a way through the swamps. Exploring the perimeter of the swamps does grant the characters a safe passage through it...

The swamps are made up of waist high waters and is considered difficult terrain.

PART 2

After some time of exploring the swamps:

"You seem to have made your way into the heart of the swamps. You see before you fields of murky dark waters. Wandering around are a couple of strange-looking scaly creatures looking to devour the corpses of those who were unlucky enough to be caught in the wrong side of the swamps.
Your eyes spot a charcoal skinned figure floating face down in the deeper waters ahead. There are a few more bodies accompanying her corpse. Beyond the corpses the road to Vathirond continues. What do you do?"

MONSTERS: 2 Drowners stalk the area

The area is covered in very light fog so the characters' visions are not obscured in any way. The fog is only dense enough for creatures to notice them, not to obscure. The drowners are not making any effort to hide themselves too.

Once the Drowners are defeated, the characters can easily reach the genasi. Unfortunately the genasi drowned and the drowners have already begun feasting on her corpse. Around her neck is a dog tag that has the name 'Cinders Teine'.

Characters with the appropriate hook will receive inspiration.

===VATHIROND===

"You arrived at the gates of Vathirond. This town looks more like a warzone than a settlement. You see dead bodies of monsters and soldiers strewn around the battlefield. You barely sense a soul in this place.

Suddenly the gates from across you opens. A young half elf male dressed in badly damaged armor calls out to you. "You must be from the Adventurer's Guild right?" What do you do?"

My name is Doran. I am from the Brelish military.
You must have noticed the look of this place. Vathirond sits right at the edge of Breland and is the closest Brelish settlement to the Mournlands.
The Mournlands is a country that was detroyed long ago in the Last War. No one lives there anymore... Or so we thought.
We recently discovered that there were monsters living in the Mournlands and they've been making moves on Breland.
Unfortunately we couldn't save Vathirond and former citizens had to evacuate. We even had to shut down the lightning rails that ran here.
We managed to fight off a huge chunk of the invading monsters but be careful, there's bound to be monsters still in Vathirond.
I last saw the group of adventurers fighting at the Eastern gates. Maybe you'll find more clues over there.
Unfortunately the town's defences and Breland's safety is way too important to me so there's not much else I can do to help.

===VATHIROND: EASTERN GATES===

"You hear 2 distant voices in conversation with each other however it is spoken in a language unknown to you. The conversation is loud and sounds very brash.
Looking up ahead you see that there isn't 2 monsters but in fact a singular creature with 2 bodies of goblin-like creatures stitched together. What do you do?"

MONSTER: 1 Dolgrim

After defeating the Dolgrim, have the characters Investigate the area. DC10 Investigation or Survival allows the players to spot the following clues:

1. Bits and pieces of metallic cogs and wood pieces that seem to match the description of Naomi Gearaichean, the Warforge. The trail leads to the left.

2. Some elven arrows and bootprints that seem to match the description of the Wood Elf Leif Coille. The trail leads to the right and into the nearby woods.

Characters with the Mournland Horrors hook earn inspiration after defeating the Dolgrim.

===VATHIROND: LEFT PATH===

MONSTERS: 2 Dolgrims

"2 Dolgrims are engaged in a very vulgar-sounding conversation with each other. Beyond the Dolgrms is the torn-up body of the Warforge Naomi. Something ruthlessly split her into 2 parts from the abdomen and smashed her mechanical brain into a million pieces. Whoever did this made sure that she could not come back to life. Her dog tag with her name hangs from her neck. What do you do?"

===VATHIROND: RIGHT PATH===

MONSTERS: 3 Awakened Cactus

"You find it strange to see cactus in the forest. Cactus are usually found in the desert, right? What is it doing here? You find yourself asking questions. You see the corpse of a female wood elf lying in the middle of the area covered in a thousand long sharp needles. She appears to have been stabbed to death by these needles but what could've caused this? Sure enough, her dog tag with her name lie on her chest. What do you do?"

CONCLUSION:

After recovering the dog tags, Doran will make his way to the characters.

Did you find them?
I was hoping it wouldn't end this way for them. That is truly unfortunate.
Thanks for finding them. Here, for your troubles.

Doran hands them a bag of 100 gp (to share).

The characters should now head back to Starilaskur city and catch the train back to Clifftop at Sharn, the City of Towers and return the dog tags to the guild. Their mission ends here.

Characters who took up the Job and Follower hook receives inspiration for their next adventure.

The adventure resumes next time where they face bandits from the Boromar Clan who plan to rob from the passengers at the lightning rails! Will they be able to fight off the bandits?

Extras: Monster Tokens

Groovy Music:

The following tracks are handpicked by me as they fit the theme of the adventure so well.

Eerie Themed Scores:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9GWJ4uOT7W8V-TEX1LcVejz2LXjPrdlK

Action Scores:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9GWJ4uOT7W_FeG9F4B1ERMF6Rk-dXkti

~~LEFTOVER NOTES~~

~~Brainstorming Original Adventures:~~

Don't feel quite ready to throw everyone at Sharn just yet. I want to introduce the players to what I feel are the few core elements of Eberron. This sparked an idea to create original adventures that revolve around letting the players know more about where they are.

~~...~~

Most likely the players have not read the extensive player options the Eberron sourcebook provides them so I'm gonna make things a bit easier. I'm deciding for them. Their Group Patron henceforth is the Adventurer's Guild.

It is assumed that the party met in an Adventurer's Guild branch somewhere in Breland and got their first job. (Maybe they came from a settlement from the Kennrun fort? Maybe a branch exists somewhere nearby?) You can ask the players if they want to decide on a story together or take a pregenerated story.

A few group of adventurers from your Group Patron set out on a quest to assist in the fight against the monsters from the Mournland in the torn down town known as Vathirond. Most of the groups returned to headquarters and reported their success in driving off the monsters. One group, however, did not report back at all. Your guild has appointed you to investigate the disappearance and rescue them if that seems like a possibility.