Session 8: City of Towers
We travel to Eberron under false identities, navigate the treacherous streets of Sharn, and discover that betrayal can come from within.
The Black Mantle
Rook explained our mission: travel to Sharn in Eberron via the Keyport—an ancient planar junction beneath the Heartwood Oak. The ley stone would power our journey.
But we wouldn’t travel as ourselves.
“You will travel under the guise of operatives of The Black Mantle—a shadowy espionage syndicate feared in Sharn’s underworlds. Your faces, your papers, your deeds. Play the role well, or be unmasked.”
Alkanar, the Enclave’s elderly Dragonborn historian, briefed us on Sharn: the City of Towers, built atop ancient Dhakaani goblinoid ruins. A vertical city of five plateaus, where the Lightning Rail connects distant lands.
We were blindfolded, led to the Keyport, and teleported through folding light and rushing voices.
Arrival in Sharn
We landed hard in a tavern backroom. Tobacco smoke, cheap brandy, the tang of iron. A sealed envelope waited on a scarred table, pressed with a black wax sigil of crossed swords.
The barkeep’s nervous voice: “Black Mantle… your reputation precedes you.”
The letter directed us to the Cornerstone Tavern in Callestan—ask for the house game of “Iron and Ash.” Our contact would find us.
The Cornerstone
The Cornerstone was built around a fighting pit where mercenaries brawled for gamblers’ entertainment. We took our seats and ordered drinks.
A serving girl approached—but her face flickered. Too-sharp eyes, a smile that didn’t quite fit. A changeling.
She whispered: “Mantle. You’re late. And the Circle is already moving. Meet me outside in 25 minutes.”
Before she vanished into the smoke, thugs surrounded our table. One slammed a dagger into the wood: “Funny thing—the Mantle don’t walk Sharn no more. So who are you wearing their faces?”
The Chase
During the brawl, three men in purple scarves—Slanted Circle agents—slipped through the chaos. A pickpocket stole our letter.
Stol and Kei finished the thugs while the rest of us gave chase through Callestan’s narrow streets, bazaars, and angry vendors. Accoa finally stunned the runner.
His only words: “The stone sang your path. He sees.”
On his person: a torn logbook page in druidic script mentioning a Dragonshard shipment via the Lightning Rail, and a crystal shard keyed to a scrying focus. Someone was watching through it.
Verdant Hollow
Our changeling contact, Veyra, led us to her cipher contact in the black markets—Yog, a one-eyed goblin. Under intimidation, he revealed that a scarred mage had paid well for a druidic cipher book and mentioned “Verdant Hollow.”
Before he could say more, an arrow split his skull.
We fought off Circle warriors and fled to Verdant Hollow—the local Emerald Enclave chapter, hidden in a hollowed tower garden.
Traitors Revealed
The Enclave druids were divided—half believed we’d planted the forged druidic note, half feared a traitor within. Elder Elarion Mossbark pulled us aside:
“A druidic cipher was stolen two days ago. I saw a tall man in Enclave robes near the black market. His name was ‘Harlix.’ I have someone tailing him.”
He also warned that the ley shard we carried was tracking our movements more than our Black Mantle disguise. “The suggestion of Mantle operatives was so your presence could be more easily tracked.”
Lightning Rail
We headed to Tavick’s Landing to intercept the Dragonshard shipment. Near the cargo platform, we spotted him: Harlix, hood drawn, speaking with a rail agent.
Then he stepped from the shadows and removed his hood.
“You should have stayed blind. The anchors bind more than Aru’xat—they bind the world! I would see those chains broken, even if it means burning every bridge.”
The rail agent’s face shifted. Veyra.
“Did you truly think I was your ally? Every step, every whisper—I fed to the Circle. You weren’t Mantle. You were marionettes.”
We were shoved aboard the train. After battling Night Watch guards and Circle agents (Rudiger’s fireball was particularly effective), we confronted Harlix and Veyra in the engine room.
Harlix fought with conflicted respect. Veyra taunted us with half-truths about the Enclave. In the end, Veyra died and Harlix surrendered.
His confession: the Eberron ley anchor lies deep in the Dhakaani dungeons beneath Sharn. The Circle mage intends to reach it, backed by a Dragonmarked House.
Harlix and Veyra were traitors all along. But we have the Dragonshards and know where the anchor lies. Now we must descend into ancient goblinoid ruins beneath Sharn.
Next Session: Into the depths of the Dhakaani Empire…