The next D&D hardcover is Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and releases on November 19th, 2019 on D&D Beyond. This campaign setting describes the war-torn continent of Khorvaire, as well as other regions of the world of Eberron. Additionally, it contains monster statistics for dozens of new creatures unique to this world, as well as magic items, mystical Dragonmarks, and other supernatural elements that set Eberron apart from other D&D settings. Indeed, Eberron is a world where magic has been used to create technology somewhat analogous to the real-world era of the First World War—with some additional fantastical elements, like the living constructs known as warforged.

This encounter series, called Around Khorvaire in Fifty Days, is a whirlwind tour of Khorvaire, the thematic heart of the Eberron campaign setting. It’s a perfect place for new players to enter the campaign setting, as it introduces and highlights many of the elements that make Eberron stand apart from other campaign settings, like the Forgotten Realms. This series elaborates on all the immediate details you need to run this adventure.

The background of this encounter series is described in greater detail in the first encounter, Departure from Skydock Six. Captain Angelica Estrella d’Sivis, her dragonmark, and her purported mission are described there as well.

Progression

This is the third encounter along this journey, and a party of five characters should now be 2nd level when they begin this encounter. The previous encounters are:

1. Departure from Skydock Six
2. Storm over the Howling Peaks

Social Encounter: Friendship in the Wilderness

This social encounter introduces characters to a group of allies that can aid them in their encounters to come.

The Celeste Noir descends over the mountains, and the new and unusual airship produces several landing struts from the bottom of its hull. It lands unsteadily upon these struts in a secluded valley at the edges of Darguun, a young nation founded by emancipated goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears in the wake of the Last War. The vessel needs to land to allow the ship’s engineers to perform regular maintenance. The landing site is near the Torlaac River, about a day’s walk from the village of Grellreach.

Encounter Summary

Once landed in Darguun, the characters have a chance to get to know the crew of the Celeste Noir before their upcoming mission. After meeting the crew, Angelica asks the characters for help putting together teams for a reconnaissance mission she’s performing within the Darguun wilderness.

Crew of the Celeste Noir

When preparing to go on the mission in Darguun, the adventurers have the option to take one of the crewmembers with them as an ally. They have some time to talk to the various crewmembers. You can send the image below to your players digitally, or print it out and cut them out as cards to show your characters the other potential volunteers for this mission. Once they know who their options are, ask the characters if they want to get to know any of these characters.

Alternatively, you can introduce these characters before this encounter begins. A week’s worth of travel takes place in between each encounter in this encounter series, giving you the chance to introduce each crewmember in a variety of mundane situations. Showing what these characters are like in their daily lives, overcoming challenges like cooking meals, passing time during the journey, or watching the clouds go by could make them feel more like real people and not just NPCs.

If you want to have any of these characters continue to join the characters throughout this encounter series, you can use the Sidekick Rules presented in the D&D Essentials Kit to let them advance in level alongside the characters.

Benjamin Octavius. Benjamin, a chaotic good male human acolyte, is the ship’s surgeon. He’s a student of medicine studying at Morgrave University in Sharn, and is currently on break. He chose to accompany this voyage because he wanted hands-on experience, and this seemed like a thrilling way to get it. The idea of hanging around in a House Jorasco hospital all day drives him mad.

Oliver Ramorell. Oliver, a chaotic neutral male human veteran, grew up poor and hungry in the shadows of Rhukaan Draal, capital city of the young, goblin-run nation of Darguun. He fled from Darguun to Sharn as a teenager, but lost his parents in the process. Now he has dedicated himself to the arts of swordsmanship and weapon maintenance, serving as hired muscle for petty criminals in Sharn. He leapt at the chance to join Angelica d’Sivis on her journey, for he saw it as a chance to turn his life around.

Because of trauma he suffered as a child, Oliver has a paralyzing fear of goblins wielding weapons. Once per turn, when a goblin Oliver can see makes a melee weapon attack against him, he must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, he’s stunned until the end of his next turn.

Brunhilde Kheldeburn. Brunhilde, a lawful neutral female dwarf berserker, is a bright and cheerful warrior who transforms into a howling maniac in battle. She hails from the Lhazaar Principalities, and served as a master artillerist aboard a sea baron’s flagship for twenty years. A public disgrace forced her to retire from her naval life, and she left her old life behind to find new work aboard ships and airships in Sharn. Nevertheless, her secret shame doesn’t seem to have dampened her spirits, and she remains a happy-go-lucky ray of sunshine aboard her new and exciting assignment aboard the Celeste Noir.

Natsuko Hayashi. Natsuko, a neutral good female human druid. Born to a wealthy family in Sharn, Natsuko fled her life of luxury after she received a barrage of letters threatening her life from an anonymous source. She left Sharn by lightning rail, but her journey was disrupted when its bound elemental power source went out of control. She only survived because of a wandering member of a druid circle who brought her back to her enclave for healing. Over the next fifteen years, Natsuko trained in the Eldeen Reaches as a druid and also plied her family trade as a cartographer, aiding Eldeen druids and Brelish scholars alike. She was hesitant to join Angelica’s expedition—namely, she worried about the fame such an historic undertaking might win her—but her reputation as the best cartographer in Eldeen drove Angelica to insist, and eventually she relented.

Demetrius d’Lyrandar. Demetrius, a chaotic neutral male half-elf spy, is the peerless but laconic pilot of the Celeste Noir. As a dragonmarked heir of House Lyrandar, he is uniquely equipped to pilot this craft. Though anyone could attempt to pilot the ship, their navigations would be halting, childlike, and dangerous compared to the effortless ease granted to Demetrius by his Mark of Storms.

When drunk—which he is most evenings—he may comment that he initially refused to join Angelica’s crew, but she showed him a document that instantly changed his mind. If pressed, he immediately backpedals, and pretends to have been joking. If forced to respond, he dismally reveals that Angelica dredged up a record of a murder he committed while exploring the Demon Wastes, several years ago. He murdered his travel partner for a silver idol bearing an inscription of an aberrant dragonmark, which he sold for a tidy profit in Droaam. He escaped from prison, and sought haven in Breland. Such a document would land him right back in prison, probably for life—so he took the job.

Demetrius has resistance to lightning damage, and can cast gust at will, and gust of wind once per day. He also has a swimming speed of 30 feet.

Aubrey Galatea. Aubrey, a neutral evil changeling assassin, is Angelica’s first mate. She possesses an aberrant dragonmark on her back, which spreads from her shoulder blades to her tailbone. She is immensely secretive about the mark, and it grows a fraction of an inch every time she casts a spell using its power—which makes her reluctant to use its power, lest it make its presence more obvious. Aubrey is keeping tabs on Angelica on behalf of her secret employer. She bears a curse which, if she speaks that employer’s name, she will immediately die. Angelica knows nothing of Aubrey’s true allegiance. Aubrey's secrets will become important as this encounter series continues.

If Aubrey joins the characters in combat, she doesn’t use poison on her weapons. She fights as if she were a frontline warrior, rather than revealing her exceptional skill at stealth and assassination. Her aberrant dragonmark also grants her the power to cast friends at will, and can cast charm person once per day.

Descent into Darguun

When the Celeste Noir begins its descent, read or paraphrase the following:

Your airship gently tilts downwards. You see the clouds rushing by as you descend out of the mountains of Zilargo and towards land. Angelica d’Sivis waves you over, giving you the same conspiratorial look she gave you when you agreed to be a part of this journey. “We’re making a short pit stop at the edge of Darguun, a nation of goblins,” she says. “This ship is state of the art, but it’s an experimental design; it needs to stop every now and then for repairs and calibrations. Don’t want this beauty falling apart on us in mid-air!” She cackles, then realizes what she said isn’t funny.

“Anyway, I have something to ask of you. I’d like you to get to know the crew, and help me form some away teams for a reconnaissance mission on the ground.”

Forming the Teams

Angelica’s request is simple: create three away teams, using the six crewmembers and your group of adventurers. She encourages you to include one of the crew members in your team, and split the other five in a way that you think will help them get along best. She warns you that your group will likely face a fair bit of combat, so bringing someone who will help you fight better will make future combat encounters easier.

Your players may wish to split their party and send their characters with another team. This is all right, but let them know that you will play their character as an NPC while they’re away from the party. Instead, that player can play one of the six crewmembers described above, and that crewmember temporarily joins the party. A player can commandeer any of the NPCs except for Aubrey Galatea. Her secrets will be revealed in a later encounter.

Espionage in Grellreach

Once the characters have assembled their three teams, read or paraphrase the following:

Angelica approaches you with a smile on her face. “I have good news and I have better news, friends,” she says. “First, maintenance is going well. We’ll be back in the air by this time tomorrow. Second, we have a target. That sundial I salvaged last week from the shipwreck in the mountains? Well, I wasn’t being entirely honest with you about it. It’s a magical gizmo that my engineers say could make this whole “map-making” business about a hundred times easier.

“The trick is, we don’t know how it works. The only one who does is its maker—a goblin by the name of Ziggy Arcingwind. He was hard to find, but he’s hiding in a little village near here called Grellreach. He’s a smart one, so I’ve heard that powerful folks in Darguun are looking to kidnap him and force him to make weapons. I’d like to save the poor wretch and let him work his magic for us. You in?”

This adventure will continue next week in Encounter of the Week: Espionage in Grellreach. Where else do you want to visit along this journey? Let us know in the comments!

Eberron: Rising from the Last War releases on November 19th, 2019. Preorder it now on the Marketplace!

Did you like this encounter? Check out the other encounters in the Encounter of the Week series. You can also pick up the adventures I've written on the DMs Guild, such as The Temple of Shattered Minds, a suspenseful eldritch mystery with a mind flayer villain. My most recent adventures are included in the Gold Bestseller Encounters in Avernus, a collection of over 60 unique encounters created by the Guild Adepts, which can be used to enhance your campaign in Avernus or elsewhere in the Nine Hells. Also check out the Platinum Bestseller Tactical Maps: Adventure Atlas, a collection of 88 unique encounters created by the Guild Adepts, which can be paired with the beautiful poster battlemaps in Tactical Maps Reincarnated.

 James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.