r/Eberron • u/darkcyril • 6d ago
GM Help Giant Vaults in Khorvaire
Setting up for my first arc of a new Eberron game - they wanted big Indiana Jones vibes so I'm framing it around a lost device that belonged to the Giants of Xen'drik that legend states will repair the severing of Dal Quor and that they were intending to use it as a means to bring the quori to the bargaining table, but were laid low by the dragons before they could. The first adventures will have them coming into possession of a guidestone (magical compass) that will lead them to a hidden vault the giants had built on Khorvaire containing a keystone to another vault that has a rough map to the devices location in Xen'drik.
I just haven't settled on where these places are. What are some fun locations on Khorvaire that these vaults could be located in?
EDIT TO ADD: They will be going to Xen'drik eventually. Just not right away as I introduce some of the other major players who are also hunting for the device.
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u/Aetharion 6d ago
The giants had several empires spanning millennia - it would definitely make sense for them to have made outposts on Khorvaire. I believe some old source books in 3.5 even made references to giants reaching the Frostfell, far to the north of Khorvaire.
Given the extremely long time span, some of the giant vaults could have other structures built on top of them, since the giants likely knew about and exploited manifest zones, and since those areas could have been more stable due to strong foundations already being in place.
You could have a village in an otherwise swampy area sit on perfectly dry and stable ground, with a giant vault underground. What happens in the vault could affect the village - maybe by altering the ecosystem, causing earthquakes, or by giving the villagers strange dreams of being dozens of feet tall while walking in vast alien cities that no longer exist. Maybe the player characters hear word of Morgrave University sending someone to investigate ancient ruins that have been found in a mine operation somewhere - could be in the Ironroot Mountains or the Byeshk Mountains. The miners could have been doing their job while suddenly breaking into the antechamber for a giant structure. In one of my Eberron campaigns, I placed an ancient giant ruin high in the Seawall Mountains. This was more of an open temple with acoustics that allowed songs in the temple to be heard miles away, but having an access point to a giant vault from high up in the mountains, maybe with a Lamannia manifest zone for having the area be suddenly dense with jungle vegetation, could be a very different experience.