This Week in Eberron, 18-22 Aryth! (Patreon)

Hi Everyone!

I've started an account at Bluesky (as Hellcowkeith) and to give people a reason to tune in, I'm posting an interesting event from the history of Eberron each day during the work week. However, for as long as I do this I'll do a post here at the end of the week which gathers these together and adds a little more context and other useful information, since I'm not limited in my character count. Also, I'll be doing a LIVE Q&A on HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS this upcoming TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 at 5 PM Pacific Time! Now, without further ado...

18 Aryth 811 YK. Disaster strikes when the Passage Royal, a lightning rail prototype, explodes during its maiden run. People say that when Dolurrh is coterminous, the Passage Royal still rides the rail and unwary folk may board this ghost train. 

The Passage Royal is entirely different from Cyre 1313, the ghost train presented in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Cyre 1313 was the last train to leave Metrol, and the passengers are trapped in that moment of fear and panic, knowing that something terrible is just behind them. By contrast, the Passage Royal is one of the very first lightning rails. It’s extremely small by modern standards, and the spirits on board are jubilant, excited to be part of this maiden voyage. The Passage Royal was destroyed nearly two centuries ago; perhaps adventurers need some piece of information from someone who died on the train, and they need to find a way to conjure the Passage Royal to gain that knowledge. 

19 Aryth 648 YK. Heward d’Cannith releases the “Catchall”, the first reasonably priced Bag of Holding. The Royal Library of Galifar loses a trove of priceless tomes when a librarian places a bag within a bag; these books remain lost in the Astral Plane.   

The Catchall Catastrophe occurred centuries ago, and the people of the present day are very familiar with the risks associated with portable extradimensional spaces. But there are many treasures that were lost to the Astral Plane in those early days, and an enterprising Aurum Concordian might finance an expedition that sends a team of adventurers into the Astral Plane in pursuit of them. 

Image of a busy Sharn street by Steve Prescott from Sharn: City of Towers

20 Aryth, Ongoing. Market Day is the festival of Kol Korran, a time for seeking bargains and for exchanging gifts with friends and family. It’s a day when people dig deep and find treasures they no longer need, bringing something to the market. Bartering is encouraged, and people often trade goods or favors instead of spending gold. While in theory this is a celebration of fair exchange, it’s common for parents to trade much-wanted gifts to their kids in exchange for things the children make on their own. In Sharn, a side effect of the Syranian manifest zone allows people in the Bazaar district to understand any spoken language for the day; this effect could be mirrored in other places with Syranian manifest zones. 

For adventurers, Market Day is an excellent opportunity to acquire unusual trinkets or objects that wouldn’t usually be sold. An Aurum Concordian might offer an artifact from their collection in exchange for a promise of service. Or an old magewright may offer a trinket they’ve had lying around and feel like passing on—a bag of magic beans, perhaps, or a key to an unknown door. It could be that the archfey known as the Merchant of Misthaven has a wider range on Market Day, and can be found far from her usual haunts! It’s also an opportunity to ask the adventurers if they give any gifts to people they care about—such as the other members of their adventuring party! 

For our part, we at Twogether Studios want to honor Market Day with a 21% discount on all products from now until Wednesday the 27th. Follow this link to get to our site, and the discount will automatically be applied to your cart—or you can enter the code MARKETDAY21 when you  check out. We ship to the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Italy, France, and Spain. However, our Sandfruit Festival merch can ship worldwide! Happy Market Day! 

21 Aryth 955. Boroman ir’Dayne presents an unusual gift to the Royal Menagerie of Wroat—a massive hoard mimic that calls itself Goldthimble. The mimic has been a beloved draw ever since; its ‘hoard’ includes the crown jewels of Galifar and artifacts of Xen’drik. 

Goldthimble is a hoard mimic, as presented in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. By default, Goldthimble remains on display at the Royal Menagerie of Wroat. They appear to have the Crown Jewels and other legendary relics in their hoard, which gives tourists an opportunity to see these famous treasures—much like seeing someone famous in a wax museum. Goldthimble is intelligent, telepathic, and knows a great deal about treasures of Xen’drik. Adventurers could consult with the mimic when they’re trying to get information about some lost artifact they hope to recover from Xen’drik; the mimic doesn’t HAVE the Orb of Dol Azur, but they can show you what it looks like. Alternately, if the adventurers are involved in a heist to rob the Royal Treasury of Breland, they could find that Goldthimble has been secretly relocated to the treasury as an extra security measure! 

22 Aryth 955. Adventurers exploring the ruins beneath Sharn cause an outbreak of Dragonmark Fever. Created by the Lady of the Plague, this targets the dragonmarked and resists Jorasco healing. Hundreds die before the contagion is contained. While this outbreak was eventually contained, it lingers in the depths below Sharn waiting to be unleashed once more. 

DRAGONMARK FEVER

Magical Contagion

The Lady of the Plague created this contagion as a weapon during the final days of the War of the Mark. There are a handful of khyber shards buried deep below Sharn which still hold the affliction, and which infect any humanoid whose bare skin comes into contact with the shard. Only creatures with “true” dragonmarks suffer exhaustion from Dragonmark Fever; other humanoids can carry the infection without manifesting any obvious symptoms. Dragonmark Fever cannot be removed by any form of healing magic associated with the Mark of Healing. 

Fever. A dragonmarked creature gains 1 Exhaustion level immediately upon contracting the affliction. 

Burning Mark. At the end of each Long Rest or any time a dragonmarked creature casts a spell associated with their dragonmark without using a spell slot, they must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. If a dragonmarked creature fails this saving throw, they gain 1 Exhaustion level. 

Fighting the Contagion. If an afflicted creature succeeds at the Constitution saving throw they make at the end of a long rest, they fight the contagion. After they succeed on three of these saves, the contagion ends on them, and the creature is immune to Dragonmark Fever for 1 month. 

Spreading the Contagion. Any humanoid that starts its turn within a 10-foot emanation originating from a creature afflicted with Dragonmark Fever must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or also become infected with the contagion, manifesting symptoms within 1d4 hours. If there is skin to skin contact with the afflicted creature, the humanoid makes the saving throw with disadvantage. On a successful save, the humanoid can’t catch the contagion for the next six hours. If a humanoid doesn’t need to breathe, they can only catch the contagion through skin-to-skin contact. 

That’s all for now. Let me know if you’d like to see these continue. And thanks for your support!