Page 210 - Eberron -Rising from the Last War_Neat

the ancient giants before the Emerald Claw can claim it Is the villain infamous for their crimes, or yet to be
for Karrnath and Lady Illmarrow. exposed for what they did? Do they believe that their
The characters can stumble into a web of intrigue crimes were justified? Is the criminal protected by
without seeing the sticky strands. Perhaps a patron powerful people in their nation, or reviled by the people
hires the adventurers to transport what seems to be an they served?
ordinary backpack full of goods, and they don't realize
that it has a secret magical compartment until enemy GRIM INSPIRATION
spies come looking for whatever is inside it. Or a dying Something the villain saw or experienced during the
spy presses an amulet into the hand of one of the ad­ war made a lasting impression that still drives them
venturers, saying, "The fate of Breland depends on you today. Perhaps their family was killed in a senseless
getting this to Boranel. Don't trust anyone!" Assuming attack, and everything they are doing is motivated by a
the adventurers care about the fate of Breland, they're desire to avenge this loss. Maybe they think that they
pressed into an urgent adventure that has implications were betrayed by their own nation. Perhaps they were
they might not see or understand. caught in the Mourning, and even though they somehow
survived it, what they lived through drove them insane.
Y
P L A I N G D U R I N G T H E LAST W A R
FORMER COMRADE
In your campaign, you might want to take a look back at A former comrade-in-arms can be a useful hook to draw
the war as it unfolds. Setting an adventure during the adventurers into a story-or a compelling villain. Which
Last War puts the characters in a tumultuous time of one of the characters served alongside the villain? Were
political intrigue, tenuous alliances, and brutal conflicts. they equals, or was one of higher rank? Did the villain
Consider these ways to make the Last War a present abandon or betray the adventurer, or was it the adven­
reality in your campaign: turer who betrayed the villain? This option can be espe­
• The players create new characters who live during a cially interesting for a warforged villain; while searching
specific phase of the war. These characters could be for their own identity following the war, they have em­
figures of legend whose great deeds are known to the braced a dark path. If you use this motif, it's important
present-day characters, or they could be unknowns to develop the story in conjunction with the players
caught up in events much larger than themselves. In whose characters are connected to the villain-either
either case, the adventure they undertake can set the establishing crucial details ahead of time, or developing
stage for events in the "present day" of your campaign. them together by way of a flashback.
• You might run an introductory session or flashback
set during the waning years of the war, bringing the W A R-TORN SURVIVOR
characters' backgrounds to life. Maybe the charac­ At first meeting, the villain of an adventure might seem
ters are all part of the same unit in the war, or they to be a person of honor, or at the least a hardscrabble
might be enemies forced to cooperate when disaster survivor doing what they think is right after surviving
strikes. Are the characters participants in a memora­ the war. The villain might have experienced some of the
ble battle? Do they take actions they'll later regret? Do same things in the war that the characters did, making
they make a bitter enemy who comes back to haunt it easy for the characters to understand the villain's
them years later, when the campaign continues in the point of view-or at least to harbor a sliver of doubt that
present day? makes them think twice before rushing to condemn the
• A magical phenomenon might send the characters villain. The War-Torn Villains table suggests twists you
back in time, putting them in the middle of the can add to villains mentioned elsewhere in this chapter
conflict. Are they transported there to learn some­ to give them and their schemes a tie to the Last War.
thing? To alter the course of history? Or are they
just stranded in a twisted time stream? How will WAR-TOR N VI LLAI N S
they escape the horrors of the war and get back to d6 Villain
their own time? The villain doesn't know (or refuses to believe) that
A
T
VILL I N S OF H E LAST W A R the war has ended.
2 The villain experienced horrors during the war and
Just as adventurers are shaped by their experiences in targets the people they believe to be responsible.
the Last War, villains often carry the physical and men­ 3 The villain is using the skills they learned during the
tal scars of the conflict. When developing the details of a
villain's background, consider the following options. war to target war profiteers or national leaders.
4 The villain is a former military commander who com­
C
W A R R I M INAL mands soldiers who served under them in the war.
What horrific actions did the villain take during the S The villain is an ex-soldier with a grudge against citi­
Last War? Did they massacre civilians? Betray their zens of a former enemy nation.
comrades or their nation? A brilliant artificer might 6 The villain wants the power to restart, and "properly"
have designed arcane weapons that violated the rules finish, the war.
of engagement. A Karrnathi bone knight (see chapter
6) could have overseen a camp where prisoners of war
were used as subjects in necromantic experiments.

C H APTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES