Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart was the fifth adventure released for the Covenant of Light Faction Adventure to be run as part of the Xen'drik Expeditions campaign.

Synopsis

The adventure begins with the PCs being contacted by Liia ir'Kaan , an agent of the Church of the Silver Flame . Liia has been working on Xandrin 's case for some time and believes the PCs may be able to talk some sense into her client before the Storm Lords can finish their case against him and the poor man gets executes. She begs the PCs to go see him in his tower cell, providing a mark of passage that will get them past his guards and allow them an audience with the condemned.

Speaking with Xandrin Corvalis will be a test of patience, diplomacy and honor. He is a nearly-broken man with only his personal dignity left to him and a desire to save others through his own sacrifice. A willing martyr, he will have to be convinced to open up and reveal the story of what really happened to his wife. Even so, he will only give the vaguest of details. The PCs will be left with a handful of clues and the cryptic statement that he cannot reveal more or "people will die". If asked which people, his only answer is "everyone". He will say no more.

Liia is waiting for the PCs and when she hears what little they were able o get from Xandrin, she will recommend they work on debunking the Storm Lord's assembled case. The PCs have their choice of which direction to go first from here; they need to visit the witness and they should examine the veracity of the Storm Lord's key piece of evidence—a bloodstained gown belonging to Lady Corvalis. Both parts of the mystery will need to be dealt with if Xandrin is to have a chance.

(There is a third avenue of research if the PCs were unable to get anything from Corvalis personally or if they just wish to be thorough. The Lord of Radiant Hold does have a personal study in the keep; there is enough material present in this room to provide the same leads the PCs could have received if their interview with Lord Corvalis had been more successful.)

The witness can be found in one of the darker districts of the city, holed up in her hovel apartment awaiting fate for her part in this debacle. A former kitchen staff member in Radiand Hold, she relinquished her position nearly a year ago out of fear that she would "disappear" as well. The Cabal found her an easy mark and convinced her to tell her tale with a simple threat. The PCs can get her to admit that she did not actually witness all of the events she claimed to, but only if they can figure out she is being less than truthful and convince her that she will be safe from reprisals.

The evidence is a bit harder to dispute. A torn dress with blood on its collar was exhumed from an unmarked grave north of Radiant Hold. The blood on the dress has been proven by necromantic analysis to belong to Lady Corvalis. Because the testimony comes from a recognized expert in the field, it is impossible to disprove, especially since it is true. Xandrin will admit to burying the dress, though he protests any suggestion that he caused the bloodletting.

The PCs receive help from a surprising source once they have investigated both leads; another member of the Cabal of Shadows has decided to lend his aid in exchange for a favor rom the PCs to be named at a later date. The Cabal member, a cloud giant psion named Deondag , has decided that Xandrin would be far more dangerous as a martyr than he could ever be alive. Acting through Shuurull , a mind-controlled sahuagin proxy, Deondag can direct the PCs to the only man capable of clearing Corvalis— Seraphen Cryheart , fallen paladin and sworn enemy of the Covenant of Light .

To buy Cryheart's aid, the PCs will need leverage. Deondag can provide this as well. He knows from his position in the Cabal that the conspirators have no intention of keeping their end of the bargain. Their dark oath only binds the warlock who made the deal; the other members of the plot intend to kill him and keep the weapon they had agreed to surrender to the blackguard as his blood price. Deondag can guide the PCs to where the sword is being kept under heavy guard. Once they possess it, the blade can be their price for Seraphen's cooperation.

Blade in hand (or armed with their own plan should the PCs not wish to accept Deondag's help), the PCs meet with Seraphen and can negotiate for the truth behind Lady Corvalis' disappearance. Once they know, they can take what they have learned to Liia and the Storm Lords. Xandrin's promise to never tell what happened to his wife does not bind the PCs and once they reveal what they know, the case against the Lord of Radiant Hold will be dropped.

This will not prevent rumors from circulating though Stormreach about what may or may not have happened that night and the defamation plans the Storm Lords put into effect have already caused some damage. Though Xandrin Corvalis is a free man due to the PCs efforts, the Cabal's ruse has not been a total failure. And of course there is the matter of the favor the PCs may now owe an evil force with a reason to some day move against all they hold dear.

That's what happens when Things Fall Apart

Appendix

Connections

Eberron Adventures
3 rd edition The Forgotten Forge Shadows of the Last War Whispers of the Vampire's Blade Grasp of the Emerald Claw Voyage of the Golden Dragon Jungle Secrets Queen with Burning Eyes Steel Shadows Fallen Angel Crypt of Crimson Stars Temple of the Scorpion God Pit of the Fire Lord Murder in Oakbridge Chimes at Midnight Tensions Rising Riding the Rail The Aundairian Job Quoth the Raven Hell's Heart City of Blood
Adapted Adventures : Red Hand of Doom Expedition to Castle Ravenloft Expedition to the Demonweb Pits‎ The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde The Kopru Ruins‎ Legend of the Silver Skeleton‎ The Whispering Cairn The Three Faces of Evil Encounter at Blackwall Keep The Hall of Harsh Reflections The Champion's Belt A Gathering of Winds The Spire of Long Shadows The Prince of Redhand The Library of Last Resort Kings of the Rift Into the Wormcrawl Fissure Dawn of a New Age There is No Honor The Bullywug Gambit The Sea Wyvern's Wake Here There Be Monsters
Mark of Heroes Reflections of the Multiverse Pirate's Bounty and the Isle of Fire No Ticket Finding the Way Gambit at Dreadhold Blind Man's Hunt The Delirium Stone Freely Given Mote in the Eye of Chaos Desolate Endeavor The Graywall Incident Escape from Grea Tower Deep Woods, Dark Heart House of Madness Price of Protection Death in Darguun Fallen of Sharn The Unexpected Gate To Spurn the Churning Discord
Xen'drik Expeditions The Journey Begins: Well of Woe Breaching Thelanis Wall: Well of Woe The Flame Beneath the Well: Well of Woe Mere of Shattered Souls Cairn of Stone Hearts Sands of Fate and Fortune Shargon's Rage Taming the Hydra Nightfall on Sorrowdusk The Dead of Night Endgame
Blackwheel Company Faction Adventure Principal of the Matter Price of Progress Marked Man The Trouble with Pirates Tarnished Reputation None Left Behind Test of Mettle A Few Good Gnolls A Plague Upon Your Houses Pariah When in Doubt, Charge The Twentieth Lash
Cabal of Shadows Faction Adventure The Sahuagin Stone Shadows Over Stormreach Khyber's Children Fire in the Heart of Madness Night of Shadows What Rough Beast Whispers Behind the Door Racing Midnight The Darkest Heart Thirst For Blood and Stone With His Dying Breath Dark Portents
Covenant of Light Faction Adventure Divine Inspiration Crisis of Faith The Good Die Young Brave Soldiers Things Fall Apart Price of Virtue Dark Fugitive Noble Savages Choir of Angels Fate, Interrupted Greater the Fall To Live Among You
Crimson Codex Faction Adventure Prophecy's Unwitting Servant Forbidden Knowledge Native Intelligence Tomb of Tomes The Korranberg Affair Turn of the Page A Costly Truth If At First Stormrider Slept Here Chamber Made A Shattered Mind's Maze The End of the Viper's Tail
D&D Open Championship Shards of Eberron Crown of Winter Flame Tomb of Eternity
4 th edition The Mark of Prophecy Khyber's Harvest Seekers of the Ashen Crown Keep on the Shadowfell Heart of the Forbidden Forge Haruuc's Tomb: A Novel Adventure The Maze of Shattered Souls Dead for a Spell Dark Lantern
5 th edition Around Khorvaire in Fifty Days Forgotten Relics Fallen Colossus Murder on the Halcyon Race Through Q'barra Skybridge Skirmish Vecna: Eve of Ruin
Adapted Adventures : Against the Giants Between Tangled Roots‎ Danger at Dunwater‎ Dead in Thay Gold for Fools and Princes‎ In the Mists of Manivarsha Isle of the Abbey‎‎ Princes of the Apocalypse Salted Legacy Tammeraut's Fate The Fiend of Hollow Mine‎‎ The Forge of Fury‎ The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan‎ The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh‎‎ The Styes The Sunless Citadel‎ Tomb of Annihilation Tomb of Horrors White Plume Mountain
Embers of the Last War What's Past is Prologue Murder in Skyway Boromar Ball The Cannith Code Jack of Daggers Against the Lightning A Holy Visit Blades of Terror The Kundarak Job Searching for Secrets The Killing Blade Secrets Below
Oracle of War The Night Land Voice in the Machine Where the Dead Wait The Third Protocol A Century of Ashes The Last Word Song of the Sky Parliament of Gears Lord Bucket Judgment of Iron My Undying Heart The Waiting Game Stonefire From Dust Dream Eater The Dragon Below The Final Tribute Scales of War Back to the Mud Old Scores The Iron Titan Rolling Thunder The Rising City The Last War Hundred-Shard Stash Off the Rails Spirit Train Servants of the Past Cold Spell in the Frostfell Journey to Salvation
Keith Baker Adventures Curtain Call: A Sharn Adventure Trust No One Magic Sword: An Eberron Story Seed