Shards of Eberron

Shards of Eberron is the name of a series of five short adventures set in the Eberron campaign setting and using the Dungeons & Dragons ® 3.5-edition ruleset that were used during the 2004 D&D Open Championship . They would later be rewritten and published in Dungeon #123 through #125 as " Crypt of Crimson Stars ", " Temple of the Scorpion God ", and " Pit of the Fire Lord ", though these reprints would drop the premade characters.

Adventure introduction

The Shadow Marches

Deep within the fetid lands of the Shadow Marches , an ancient shrine of the Gatekeepers rots in eternal ruin. Built atop a sealed portal to the plane of Xoriat , from which in distant memory horrid aberrations once emerged to wage brutal war upon the young nations of Khorvaire , the shrine is to this day a sinkhole of evil in the midst of the swamp, mutating nature itself to evil.

Somewhere within this shrine is said to be an Eberron dragonshard of enormous size and legendary power. Sometimes described as the solidified blood of the earth itself, Eberron shards are pinkish crystals containing writhing swirls of deep red color and hold a great affinity for magic. Artificers seeking to fashion spell storing items or metamagic rods, among other magical objects, use Eberron dragonshards in preference over other materials.

Tophran Damilek , one of Sharn 's wealthiest citizens, has hired the player characters (PCs) to retrieve the legendary Eberron shard hidden within the Gatekeeper shrine. For the purpose of this adventure, assume that the PCs have accepted his commission and are already deep within the swamps of the Shadow Marches, approaching the shrine. The equipment on their character sheets represents the result of their preparations for this expedition.

— Opening summary

The Mournland

The blasted ruins of the Mournland —a lasting reminder of the devastation of the Last War —conceal many weapons from that conflict. Thankfully, the locations of many of these weapons have been lost from memory, but that is not true of all of them.

Hidden away in a well-protected vault lies one of these weapons: an Eberron dragonshard of enormous size and legendary power. Sometimes said to be the solidifed blood of the earth itself, Eberron shards are pinkish crystals containing writhing swirls of deep red color and hold a great affinity for magic. Artificers seeking to fashion spell storing items or metamagic rods, among other magical objects, use Eberron dragonshards in preference over other materials.

Tophran Damilek, one of Sharn's wealthiest citizens, has hired the player characters to retrieve the legendary Eberron shard hidden within the Vault of the Ancients deep within the Mournland. For the purpose of this adventure, assume that the PCs have accepted his commission and are already approaching the vault. The equipment on their character sheets represents the result of their preparations for this expedition. The read-aloud text for the first encounter provides all the background information they need to play the adventure.

When the adventure begins, the characters are passengers on an elemental -powered airship flying across the Mournland. At the start of the encounter, they are about an hour away from their destination, where the ship will drop low enough for the characters to disembark and complete the rest of their journey to the Vault on foot. All characters are wearing or carrying their gear, as they are prepared to leave soon.

Unfortunately for the characters, they aren't the only ones after this Eberron dragonshard. A sinister cleric named Delise has gathered a number of minions together to recover the very same item sought by the characters. As the adventure opens, some of the cleric's minions have boarded the airship with the intent of stopping the characters...one way or another.

— Opening summary

The Talenta Plains

The wild Talenta Plains remain an untamed frontier on the continent of Khorvaire. Travelers can wander for days without seeing another living creature, but must remain ever wary of packs of predatory dinosaurs or suspicious halfling warriors.

Far from civilization, concealed within a trap-laden temple-tomb, lies an Eberron dragonshard of enormous size and legendary power. Sometimes described as the solidifed blood of the earth itself, Eberron shards are pinkish crystals containing writhing swirls of deep red color and hold a great affinity for magic. Artificers seeking to fashion spell storing items or metamagic rods, among other magical objects, use Eberron dragonshards in preference over other materials.

Tophran Damilek, one of Sharn's wealthiest citizens, has hired the player characters to retrieve the Eberron dragonshard concealed within the abandoned temple. Unknown to the characters, they aren't the first group that Damilek has sent after the shard: Another team of adventurers has already met their doom on a similar mission a few weeks earlier.

For the purpose of this adventure, assume that the PCs have accepted his commission and are already approaching the vault. The equipment on their character sheets represents the result of their preparations for this expedition. The read-aloud text for the first encounter provides all the background information they need to play the adventure.

— Opening summary

Xen'drik

The heroes have accomplished their first goal, and delivered an Eberron dragonshard of great power to their employer, Tophran Damilek. Now they seek a second dragonshard, a Siberys shard , on behalf of their wealthy patron. Siberys dragonshards fall from the Ring of Siberys that forms a broken path across the night sky. A pulsating swirl of golden veins glows within the crystalline depths of a Siberys shard. These shards are greatly coveted by the dragonmarked mercantile houses that dominate the economic life of Khorvaire, for their inherent properties enhance and focus the spell-like abilities derived from dragonmarks.

For the purpose of this adventure, assume that the PCs have accepted Tophran Damilek's commission and are already deep within the jungles of Xen'drik , approaching the ancient ruins. The equipment on their character sheets represents the result of their preparations for this expedition. The read-aloud text for the first encounter provides all the background information they need to play the adventure.

— Opening summary

Sharn, City of Towers

After discovering that their "patron" intends to use the recovered dragonshards as part of some horrible ceremony (in Round 2), the characters hurry back to Sharn. There, they seek to confront Tophran Damilek, only to find that he has disappeared. The characters follow Damilek's trail beneath the city, but must fight their way past several of his allies and minions before they can stop the ceremony that will unleash fiery ruin upon the city.

— Opening summary

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