No rational person would ever assume that the elves of House Thuranni aren’t up to something, but few suspect the true extent of the house’s operations in Stormreach—or how long its plans have been in motion. To understand the present situation, one must first understand the true nature of the family that sits in control of the house’s local interests.
Everyone knows that House Thuranni has no proper enclave in Stormreach, and almost as many realize that Shadows (the high-end brothel in Locksmith Square) is, as a result, the next best thing. Shadows is owned and operated by the Uruvai, the least politically active of the six families of House Thuranni, and serves as a front for much darker schemes. In truth, the Uruvai family is in league with Vol, the Lich Queen of the Dead, who provided the funding and political cover the family required to set up shop in Stormreach. Their alliance is one of both blood and convenience—one that has already yielded spectacular results.
The Uruvai is a family of necromancers, elves who revere the old ways left behind when their race departed Xen’drik for Aerenal nearly forty thousand years ago. The Uruvai family claims to trace its lineage back to the Qabalrin, the oldest and mightiest necromancers the world has ever known. The Uruvai shares this tradition and perspective with Vol herself, who uses the Uruvai to do her will in Xen’drik.
With help provided by a skilled archaeologist of the Emerald Claw known as the White Raven, the Uruvai family discovered the location of a long-lost tomb buried in the former location of the ancient Qabalrin city near the Ring of Storms. From Stormreach, the Uruvai oversaw Dedrick Beynar’s expedition to that sacred site, where the archaeologist recovered a sarcophagus containing an ancient vampire—the last one created during the height of the Qabalrin civilization, if the word of Vol is to be believed.
Once among the mightiest of the ancient Qabalrin necromancers, this vampire might be the key to releasing Vol from her endless torment and resurrecting the power of the Mark of Death. Although Vol is herself a mighty spellweaver, she is less experienced in the Qabalrin way than the vampire and lacks any blood (the key component to Qabalrin necromancy) herself. Vol’s ultimate goal is to awaken the ancient necromancer and return him to his full strength, whereafter he will teach her (or give her) the means by which she can change the course of history.
In the interim, Vol continues to use the Uruvai family of the Thuranni to further her schemes. With data she has been collecting for centuries, Vol is slowly but surely tracking down her own mortal descendants—those who would today have good claim to nobility in a dragonmarked house, had their own house not been betrayed—and bringing them into House Thuranni under the Uruvai banner. House Vol is returning to Eberron, and it hides behind a mask called the Uruvai.
GETTING INVOLVED
Although it’s too late for anyone to prevent Vol’s agents among both the Emerald Claw and the Uruvai from locating and retrieving the ancient vampire, the true calamity is still on the horizon. If the vampire regains his full strength, and if he does indeed have the power to help Vol resurrect the Mark of Death, then Eberron could be headed into a new age of darkness—a bloody time filled with the vengeance that Vol will surely exact on those she blames for nearly three millennia of frustration and persecution. Now that the vampire is found, the next step in Vol’s plan involves the accumulation of numerous Khyber dragonshards, specifi- cally those from the area in and around the Ring of Storms—stones that are suffused with the power of the Qabalrin. Vol has set the Uruvai family on this task, and it is presently collecting information for the massive operation.
Lady Miravella, the head of the Uruvai family in Stormreach, is dimly aware of the presence of an entity of great power in and beneath the city, but its existence factors little into her day-to-day plans. Her primary concerns include the collection of the necessary dragonshards and the preparations required to use them in the incantations over the vampire. Beyond that, she continues to manage Shadows as an information-gathering tool, and she sends regular updates on the gossip she collects to her mistress Vol, with whom she is in direct contact. It’s unlikely that the PCs will have much direct contact with Miravella, but if one or more of them is a scion of House Thuranni, she might interact with them for the sake of keeping up appearances.
If the PCs get involved, it will likely be through the White Raven. Not only is he the primary active functionary for Vol’s/Miravella’s schemes in Xen’drik, he is also a substantial personality in his own right, one who should feature as a recurring rival to the PCs’ interests. You are encouraged to have the PCs thwarted once or twice by the White Raven, who always shows up at important archaeological sites just before they do, making off with whatever’s most valuable or important in each case. By the time they uncover the truth behind his activities in Xen’drik, they should be chomping at the bit for a chance to get even.
When the PCs get too close to the truth of House Thuranni’s involvement, one or more of them will receive a nighttime visit from Vaedin, Lady Miravella’s nephew and one of the most accomplished assassins in Xen’drik. If he fails to dispose of his quarry, have him escape the first time to build momentum for the final conflict yet to come.