Most of our previous questions have been turned on storytelling skill. This time, we want a more general question. I want to know:

What’s your favorite thing about Eberron?

Good luck!

For full details, including the developing list of SWAG! and the auction process, please go to the following site:

http://www.mythicparty.com/

See you at GenCon!

Unknown to the crew and passengers an Ashbound druid released a swarm of Soarwood-eating ants under the airship’s hull.

The ants work slowly borrowing through the ship’s wood multiplying in numbers.

Just one day away from Stormreach, the pilot notices that he can not maintain the airship altitude and that the airship is slowly descending into the Thunder Sea.

The swarm is finally revealed after a crew member that was busy cleaning the lower ship’s hold fell to his death when a piece of the keel detach from the airship.

Realizing that at this rate the airship will never reach Stormreach, the crew contemplates using the Life Ring feather fall down and take there chances in the water, but they quickly changed their minds once they realize that the rifts below are controlled by human-sacrificing Sahuagins.

Finally the captain comes up with a plan: there is a small semi-dormant volcanic island coming up on the starboard side, the island is spewing black ash, they will turn the airship to pass directly in the ash cloud hopefully it will kill enough of the swarm and buy them the time to reach the Stormreach…

Congratulations, Gilo! The final question (for two seats this time!) will be posted shortly.

http://www.mythicparty.com/

As we all know, when adventurers get on an airship, it is invariably doomed. It’s like Doctor Who – when adventurers show up, you know something bad is going to happen. So you and your friends have just climbed aboard an airship, planning a relaxing trip to Stormreach. Our question this week is simple:

WHAT WILL GO WRONG ON YOUR AIRSHIP  FLIGHT?

“A Zil Gnome, a Warforged, and a Shifter walk into a bar…”

The bartender smiles again, “There’s nothing that gets rid of parasites like a good bug-whompin’ stick!”

Congratulations, Andy! I’ll see you at GenCon.

Looking to the runner-ups, a few people played off the “What is this, some kind of joke?” theme; our favorite variation of this came from Herb Helzer:

The halfling proprietor, Mark of Hospitality emblazoned across half his face, sees the trio, smiles broadly and gestures for them to pass through a darkened archway to “The Great Egress.”

“House Ghallanda reserves the right to refuse service to anyone intending to use its facilities as the setup for a joke.”

Another joke came in two flavors, with Jim Auwaerter providing the Fourth Edition version…

The gnome hits his head and disappears.
The shifter smacks his shin and begins to curse loudly.
The warforged looks down at the torn wreckage that was once a bar and gives a hollow sigh.

… and Craig giving a Third Edition Answer:

The gnome hits his head, the others trip.  You would think one would have made the notice check. They all take 1d4-1 damage and the gnome makes a fortitude save (DC20) to prevent the concussion.

An example of the adventure theme comes from DJ Adamski –

They take a seat off in the corner.  A barmaid hurries over and asks them what they want to drink.  She takes the order and hurries away.  The three are eyeing the doors and windows warily.  The barmaid returns with their drinks.  Suddenly the shifter pounces the barmaid to the floor.  Before she can even let out a scream the warforged has upturned the table and it now has 10 crossbow bolts sticking out of it.  The crowd turns and sees a group of people wearing the tell-tale helmets of the Emerald Claw.  Without a moments hesitation the warforged flings the table like a frisbee at the group.  The Claws get out of the way except for the one mook in the back who didn’t see it coming.  He flies out the door and over the railing of the street.  He runs out of breath before he hits the ground.  Such is Sharn.  The shifter is running at a group of three Claws.  He changes into a panther and leaps and mauls the three Emerald Knights.  The onlookers can only stare in horror as they are splattered in blood.  One of the knights gets by the warforged and takes a shot at the gnome.  The bolt pierces his chest and he falls over dead.  The knight smiles at the kill.  Only two left.  The walls fall away and soon the floor is covered in blood.  The knight only sees undead coming at him in all directions but one.  Terrified he runs that direction.  He never saw the window he ran through.  He also didn’t hit the ground until after he finished screaming.  The gnome laughs as he sips his ale at the other end of the bar.  Illusions are always so much fun.  The warforged grabs the last Emerald Claw and pulls him close.  The warforged whispers something in his ear then throws him into the street.  The warforged sits at a new table and is joined by the gnome and a blood soaked shifter.  The gnome asks the warforged, “What did you tell him?”  to which the warforged responds, “You get a one minute head start.”  The shifter’s eyes go wide.  He smiles and whispers, “Times up.” and runs out the door and gives chase.  The gnome sighs, “Another typical day in Sharn.”

And David takes this theme with a slightly different approach…

The bartender yells  ”Hey we don’t serve their kind!.” The shifter responds “What?” The bartender responds ” Your Warforged will have to wait outside.”  Not wanting a fight the Warforged walks out. The Gnome then says “We should be able to find a pilot here.” The shifter sits down at a table while the Gnome moves to the Bar. The Gnome discusses terms with a Lyrandar Half-Elf. A Kobold bounty hunter sits across from the shifter, pointing a wand at him. ” The Daughters want their money.” The Kobold drops to the table, smoking. As the Shifter moves away he pockets the Dragon Shard wand he had under the table and collects the Gnome, the pilot and flips a coin to the bartender. “Sorry for the mess.”

Thanks to everyone who responded – I hope you’ll try again in the next round!

Are the daelkyr bound in Khyber, or just unable to come to the surface?

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/25401933/Conflicts_between_Depiction_of_Daelkyr_imprisonment_in_Novels_and_Sourcebooks.?sdb=1&pg=last#457819177

Let’s Talk About Overlords of The Age of Demons

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/23063277/Overlords

(This is a conversation that started a few months ago, but picked up again recently)

Primal Spirits in Eberron: What Are They?

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/25360849/Primal_Spirits

A Zil Gnome, a Warforged, and a Shifter walk into a bar…

… What happens next?

How will the Owl win the Race of Eight Winds? By ensuring the outcome is decided ahead of time, of course.

First, you need to identify the goal, stated and implied. That is, it is obvious that you need to win the race, but what you need to do is make everyone else come in less than first. Sometimes, it doesn’t need to be obvious. In other cases, it may need to be obvious but untraceable back to you.

Hire an experienced ranger to fly as a second. She/He is ONLY involved to take out any unexpected last minute additions to the roster, such as OTHER adventurers. Actually trying to win will negate our agreement, and the rest of the payment.

Manipulate events so that the Hawk’s rider personally owes us a favor in exchange for silence. Call it in prior to the race.

Next step: Pegasus and Hippogriff need taken out. As the fastest competitors, they are our biggest threat.

Highwater’s representative is known for its pride, and the solution is obviously to encourage the Gargoyle and Hawk to team up against it. Once they have taken out the Pegasus, then the two (presumably weakened) will be the next targets. Not from our rider, of course. From the Griffon, who sees them in their weakened state and is compelled to take at least one of them out to satisfy the fans (this is, of course, helped out by the favor we called in from the Hawk). This leaves the Griffon open to attack from the other, and taking advantage of this division allows us to swoop in and take out the weakened Griffon, no matter the outcome. The Hawk has the blackmail threat hanging over his head to keep him from passing us at this point.

At this point, two of the three ‘threats’ to our victory have been dealt with. Only the Hippogriff remains.

Have a trained poisoner coat the Glidewing’s crossbow bolts with a sleeping poison without the rider’s knowledge. Have a third party (a loyal compatriot, disguised and protected from scrying), make the glidewing rider an offer, claiming to be a speculator who has a large wager riding on the supposition of the Glidewing winging the Hippogriff’s rider. He has taken out the Hippogriff and disqualified himself for using poison (albeit unknowingly) in one fell swoop.

At this point, the owl-rider flies the length of the track, crossbow still in her belt. We are out several thousand gold…. but it isn’t about the money, or the land. it’s about the Rod of Eight Winds.

Victory.

For pure creativity, an honorable mention must go to MetaDM. Unfortunately, the question was specifically how the Owl would WIN… but bonus points for giving us a glimpse into the race!

The Owl gives it up to his toughest competitor.

The game I run will be a heroic tier Eberron game using 4E D&D rules. It will use pregenerated characters of my own design; this is necessary both to tie things into the plot of the game and because I use lots of house rules – so you might have a class or feat that doesn’t exist in the core rules. I haven’t quite decided on the final time of the game: It will either be Thursday at 2 PM, or Sunday at 11 AM. When you answer the question, please state which of these two times you prefer, and if you are able to do the other.

This week’s question concerns the Race of Eight Winds (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20041220a): You are representing the Owl in the 998 YK race. You’re not as fast as the hippogriff or the pegasus. You’re not as tough as the griffon. But you need to win this year. So, for a seat at the GenCon Game – How will the Owl win the Race?