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Table of Contents
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Prices
| Type | Price |
|---|---|
| Eberron (Small) | 1d8 gp |
| Eberron (Greater) | 4d4×10 gp |
| Siberys (Least) | 4d4x25 gp |
| Siberys (Lesser) | 4d4×200 gp |
| Siberys (Greater) | 2d4×1,000 |
| Khyber (Small) | 4d4x75 gp |
| Khyber (Large) | 4d4x500 gp |
The price of a small Khyber shard varies based on size and quality; a small shard is typically worth 4d4×75 gp, or an average of 750 gp each. Larger shards, known as greater Khyber shards, are in even greater demand, fetching 4d4×500 gp, or an average of 5,000 gp each.
EBERRON DRAGONSHARDS
Eberron dragonshards, also called bloodstones, are found encased in geodelike stone shells—egg-shaped rocks perhaps a foot across. These stone shells usually lie just below the surface of the ground, covered by 2 to 10 feet of dirt and sediment, but always above the bedrock layer. Since Eberron dragonshards are not found buried within rock, most shard fields are in lowlands, as opposed to mountains or rocky barrens.
Some of the most productive Eberron dragonshard fields are in the swamps of the Shadow Marches. In such places, the water of the swamps has transformed much of the dirt covering the shards into mud, and in some cases washed the dirt away completely. Dragonshard geodes thus sit hidden underneath standing water or muck.
In some fields, House Tharashk workers wade through the fetid waters, picking up individual dragonshards that have broken free of their casings. Other orc and human tribal members use extra-long divining rods, letting the forces of nature guide their hands while plunging the 10-foot poles into the mire in search of the solid resistance a dragonshard shell might offer.
Many of the most lucrative Eberron dragonshard fields have already been claimed by House Tharashk—nearly all of them within the Shadow Marches, as well as those fields within Droaam.
Of course, Eberron shards might be a few feet under the surface of most of the lands in Khorvaire, but the task of digging up most of the continent is daunting, so a prospector usually won’t dig indiscriminately unless an area is expected to have a high concentration of Eberron shards.
Harvesting
Many Eberron dragonshard fields are discovered by accident; perhaps land was being excavated to raise a keep and shards were removed as part of the excavation, or maybe the shells were discovered when digging a mass grave for the fallen of the Last War. Once a single dragonshard-bearing geode is found, a safe assumption is that more will be discovered nearby.
More often than not, however, the best dragonshard fields are found using magic. Dragonmarked members of House Tharashk and magewrights in their service employ locate object judiciously in their search for more Eberron dragonshard fields.
The excavation of Eberron dragonshard shells is a time-consuming but relatively straightforward process. A prospector simply digs or plumbs an area until he finds the telltale egg-shaped geode that houses the dragonshards. Once unearthed, the shell is usually transported to a secure work area, where a skilled expert can crack the rock and extract the dragonshards.
Removing dragonshards from a geode requires careful hands and some knowledge of how the shells are formed. A DC 15 Profession (miner) check is required to open the shell. If this check fails by 10 or more, the shell is cracked open, but half of the dragonshards within are shattered and ruined.
When a shell is carefully opened, a number of dragonshards can be extracted from it. The largest dragonshard shell on record was over 4 feet in diameter—so large that the dragonshards had to be extracted on site. A typical shell yields 1d6 large dragonshards or 5d8 small shards.
Availability
Eberron shards are the easiest dragonshards to obtain, at least on the continent of Khorvaire. House Tharashk provides Eberron dragonshards to markets in all major cities of the Five Nations. The larger cities of the eastern reaches, including Regalport in the Lhazaar Principalities, usually have a few Eberron dragonshards available at a given time, and the cities of Q’barra are surprisingly well stocked with bloodstones, most likely due to the rich shard fields scattered throughout that frontier land. Less of a market exists for Eberron shards in western Khorvaire, even though it is the source of most Eberron shard production.
Eberron shards are the most plentiful of the dragonshards, and the smaller shards are so inexpensive as to be commonly found for sale in most towns and cities. The smallest of Eberron shards have a market value of 1d8 gp each. Some Eberron shards have a greater affinity for magic, and these greater Eberron dragonshards fetch prices in the neighborhood of 4d4×10 gp.
Other Sources
The Aereni have limited Eberron shard harvesting operations, and they sell the shards in their trade town of Pylas Talaear. Untapped fields also exist in Q’barra, though House Tharashk is working hard to bring them into its monopoly.
SIBERYS DRAGONSHARDS
Siberys dragonshards fall from the Ring of Siberys, littering much of equatorial Eberron. Nearly all Siberys shards came from Xen’drik, harvested from the jungles around Stormreach as that city grew. Eventually, the relatively civilized region around the city was picked clean of most dragonshards, and now most shards are primarily found deep within the wilds of Xen’drik.
Prospectors spend weeks perched atop cyclopean ruins, looking out over the teeming jungle in a vigilant watch for a Siberys shower. Such showers occur infrequently, and the mists of the Xen’drik jungle can sometimes make spotting the showers somewhat difficult. Usually, a shower drops Siberys dragonshards over an area perhaps 100 feet wide but over a mile long.
Even if a Siberys shower is detected, it might take many days for a mining expedition to reach the fall zone, and a few days to gather those shards that survived the fall. The prospectors must be on their guard, and they usually expect attacks from drow bands, renegade giants, and all manner of other creatures that make their homes in the wild, not to mention other groups of prospectors heading to the same fall zone.
A typical prospector troupe plans a month-long expedition for dragonshard recovery. The plan usually includes no longer than two weeks waiting for a Siberys shower, a week to find the fall zone and gather as many shards as possible, and finally a week to return to Stormreach. An average of only one in three expeditions is successful, and such an expedition usually yields ten to fifteen Siberys dragonshards.
Some prospectors sift through the silt of the rivers, staying closer to what counts for civilization while panning for dragonshards washed downstream. Every few years a Siberys shower rains shards in the vicinity of Stormreach, usually resulting in a drop in shard prices as the market becomes temporarily flooded with easy-to-acquire shards.
Once located, Siberys shards are the easiest to collect. They fall with great velocity from the Ring of Siberys, embedding themselves in the underbrush and soil, usually to a depth of no more than a foot or two. In the Xen’drik jungles, shards might be slowed as they pass through the thick canopy of branches and leaves, and they can sometimes be found barely buried by fallen foliage. Only a fraction of these shards survive the fall through the trees, though, making searching for these dragonshards a time-consuming venture. Some shards have also been found in the trunks of jungle trees, though many shards that impact trees are rarely recovered, because trees seep sap over the wounded wood and eventually envelop the dragonshard.
Harvesting
Siberys shard prospectors might simply wander into the jungle hoping to stumble onto a fall zone or witness a Siberys shower firsthand, but those brave and foolhardy souls are only sometimes successful. Most experienced teams employ magic to increase the success rate of their expedition. The frequency of Siberys showers can be predicted with a certain degree of accuracy by various magical means, and teams might employ magewrights, or sometimes even priests, to cast augury or other divination magics. Some sages also purport to have studied the movement of the Ring of Siberys and claim to be able to predict with some precision when a shardfall might occur. In most cases, however, even the most accurate of forecasts can only narrow down a Siberys shower to within a week of its actual occurrence, and the fall zone itself can only be isolated to within a twenty mile radius.
When a fall is imminent, teams are sent to vantage points near the expected fall zone. There they wait, on mountain crests or atop ancient ruins, ever vigilant for the rain of dragonshards. Usually, a team guided near a shard fall by magic ends up 2d10 miles from the actual fall zone. A Siberys shower is potentially visible for miles around. A DC 10 Spot check will notice a shower while it is active at a distance of a mile or less, and the DC increases by 2 for every additional mile between the fall zone and the vantage point. Environmental conditions, such as rain or fog, can also impact the Spot DC.
If a shower is spotted, the team can then mark its direction and begin moving toward the fall zone. A DC 15 Survival check each day keeps the team moving in the right direction; through trackless jungle, most parties can cover four to six miles per day. Even direction is not enough, however, since only the most experienced shard hunter can find signs of a Siberys shower once it is over. A DC 25 Knowledge (nature) or Survival check can correctly identify a fall zone, and team members can also search as they move (see below), but doing so halves their movement. The dragonmarked of House Tharashk are particularly useful here, since those with the greater Mark of Finding can use find the path to locate the fall zone directly.
Once a fall zone is identified, the area can be canvassed for fallen dragonshards. A typical fall zone yields a dozen or so (4d6) usable Siberys shards. A successful DC 20 Profession (miner) check results in a 20% chance of finding a single intact Siberys shard after an hour’s work, or a 5% chance of finding two shards that hour. A character with at least 5 ranks in Profession (miner) can instead make a DC 20 Search check to find fallen Siberys shards with the same rate of success. A team usually employs four or five searchers, while the rest of the team keeps an eye out for native creatures. Most of the time, teams search for only two or three days before leaving the site, because every moment that passes in the jungle only increases the chance of an eventual hostile encounter.
Siberys shards vary in size, and the markings within have varying levels of complexity, much like the differences between least, lesser, and greater dragonmarks.
Availability
Siberys shards can be found in quantity only in the Xen’drik trade town of Stormreach and the metropolis of Sharn. Nearly all Siberys shard trade passes through these cities. Other major cities of Khorvaire and Aerenal might occasionally have a limited supply for sale, but the market is anything but steady.
The majority of Siberys dragonshards fetch 4d4×25 gp on the open market, an average of 250 gp. About one in ten Siberys dragonshards found after a shower has more complex markings, and can bring 4d4×200 gp each (2,000 gp on average). One in a hundred Siberys shards is considered a greater Siberys dragonshard, containing much more complex marks. These greater shards can be sold for 2d4×1,000 gp each.
Other Sources
While the Finders Guild employs prospectors in Xen’drik and controls much of the trade in dragonshards, some groups have found other means of acquiring Siberys shards.
Some shards can be purchased from the Aereni in the trade city of Pylas Talaear. The exact locations of the elves’ shard harvesting operations have not been discovered, although many speculate that the shards are gathered in the Blackwood Jungle and Thal Taluna, in the southern regions of Aerenal. Another possibility is that the elves are also scouring Xen’drik for shards, and not passing through Stormreach to do so.
Other Siberys shards have been traced to the Lhazaar Principalities. Those shards almost certainly did not fall in that coastal region, and the popular rumor is that the pirate princes plunder the dragonshards from the Seren tribes off the coast of Argonnessen. This has spurred the endeavors of many diplomats and explorers who hope to gain access to the lands of the Seren barbarians, or perhaps even enlist the savage people to gather shards from Argonnessen.
SIBERYS STORMS
A shower of Siberys dragonshards can be dangerous to those caught within it. All creatures in the fall zone during a Siberys shower have a 10% chance each round of taking 2d8 points of damage from a falling shard (Reflex DC 15 negates). A Siberys shower lasts for 4d4 rounds (an average of 1 minute). Once a shower has started, characters can take cover behind large trees or other obstacles to avoid further damage.
Characters caught in a shower are more likely to find dragonshards once the shower is over. Any character who spends an hour looking and then makes a DC 20 Profession (miner) check or a DC 20 Search check (provided that character has 5 ranks in Profession [miner]) has a 50% chance of finding an intact dragonshard, or a 10% chance of finding two shards.
KHYBER DRAGONSHARDS
While Siberys shards are the most rare variety of dragonshard, Khyber shards are the most hazardous to obtain. Nevertheless, prospectors and members of the Finders Guild (see page 32) send expedition after expedition to find the Khyber shards that fuel so much of Khorvaire’s industry. Lightning rails and airships have transformed the economy of the Five Nations, and elemental forges increase the output of many of Khorvaire’s smiths and craftsmen. As a result, many organizations pay handsomely for these dragonshards, making the expeditions profitable—provided shard hunters make it back alive.
Khyber shards are found only in the depths of Khyber, growing in clusters on cavern walls and floors near pools of magma. The dragonshards reflect the orange-red glow of the molten rock, and the silhouette of a swirling dragonmark is barely visible within the smoky crystal.
Well before an expedition reaches the caverns and tunnels of Khyber, it must first determine its route. The most expedient paths to the depths are found in the Demon Wastes and Droaam, and both regions offer their own obstacles. Some miners try to find their own way into Khyber, searching for lost ruins in Q’barra, plumbing the depths of the Black Pit in Breland, or exploring vast caverns in the ruined and fallen giant cities of Xen’drik. These attempts don’t entirely circumvent the hazards; they merely delay it, or replace it with an entirely different danger.
The deeper one delves into Khyber, the greater the chances of finding a Khyber dragonshard cavern, but so is the likelihood of encountering some of Eberron’s more hostile underground denizens. If a prospector band is lucky, it might only have to fight off small groups of dolgrims or the occasional minor aberration, such as a grick. If a group tarries too long, however, it is likely to encounter dolgaunt patrols, mind flayers, beholders, or other denizens of the darkness below.
Once discovered, extracting raw Khyber shards from the igneous rock in which they are embedded is a time consuming and arduous process. Great care must be taken not to damage a crystal as it is removed, and extracting a cluster of crystals might take a day or more of tedious work.
The largest Khyber shards, called greater Khyber shards, are often used in lightning rail coaches or other elemental vessels, where their size is less of an issue in an item’s construction. Such dragonshards might require nearly a week of careful digging to free.
Even after freeing a dragonshard from its rocky resting place, the danger is not yet over, for days of travel back up from the depths await the prospectors. Some shard hunters report an increase in resistance on the journey back to the surface, as if the denizens of Khyber were waiting until the shards were mined before ambushing the expedition. Others recalled attacks by fiendish forces, such as rakshasas or demons, shortly after the Khyber shards were cut from the rock.
Harvesting
Khyber shards are relatively easy to find, compared to Eberron shards. The shards grow openly from rock walls, and are therefore easy to spot once a Khyber shard cavern is located. However, the crystal clusters grow not only out of, but into the granite or basalt of the cavern walls. A miner must carefully dig the rock from around the base of the dragonshards, being careful not to break the shard itself. In addition, not all crystals in the cluster make effective dragonshards; the crystals mature as they grow, and only fully mature crystals are able to manifest their magical binding properties. A typical Khyber cluster has only one mature dragonshard.
Finding a new Khyber shard cavern might require days or weeks of searching. First, an appropriate region must be located in the Dragon Below, usually near lava pools or magma rivers. A DC 30 Knowledge (dungeoneering) check in such a region will discover a Khyber cave. A character gains a +1 bonus on this check for each day spent searching the depths, to a maximum bonus of +10 after ten days of searching (provided the expedition’s members are alive that long). A newly found Khyber shard cave typically has 5–10 (1d6+4) small Khyber shards and 0–2 (1d6–4) greater Khyber shards.
Extracting a small Khyber shard requires a DC 20 Profession (miner) check and about 1 hour of uninterrupted work. A failed check means no significant progress was made in the extraction, and a failure by 10 or more accidentally breaks the dragonshard.
Extracting a greater Khyber shard can be much more time-consuming. At a minimum, mining a large shard takes 8 hours. At the end of this time, the miner can attempt a DC 25 Profession (miner) check. If successful, he has extracted the dragonshard. If the check fails by 10 or more, the miner has damaged the shard. If the check fails by 20 or more, not only is the shard ruined, but the miner falls victim to some other hazard, such as a lavaburst (see the sidebar) or a cave-in.
Location: Khyber Cavern
Deep underground, near red-hot pools of lava, Khyber dragonshards are found. A fiery glow illuminates the walls and enhances the deep orange glow that emanates from the dragonshard crystals growing in clusters on the walls. In many cases, the walls are covered with glyphs and symbols that suggest dragonmarks, and yet rarely do these writings ever match one of the twelve recognized dragonmarks. Occasionally these marks disappear or appear when dragonshards are brought into the cave or taken from the walls.
A Khyber cave seems a strange mix of the natural and the manufactured. A river of lava might flow through the cavern, yet other features seem too conveniently placed to have occurred naturally, such as an arcing stone bridge that provides passage over the molten rock. Floors are relatively smooth, if uneven, and the cavern walls rise over the heads of most human-sized creatures before leaning inward toward the ceiling. No signs of stonework or modification are visible. Some scholars speculate that the daelkyr modified the underground passages to their liking, or that some connection to the dragonshards forces the caverns to form in a specific way. These mysteries might never be revealed.
Khyber dragonshard-prospecting adventurers will eventually find themselves in a Khyber cavern, at least if they hope to be successful in their mission. Even PCs not specifically looking for Khyber shards might stumble upon such a cavern while journeying through the dark underground of Khyber.
The open caverns make ideal places for combat with the denizens of Khyber, as lava and rock formations help to create a unique battlefield. Dolgaunt monks with dolgrim enforcers might defend the dragonshards from those who would take them, or the PCs might stumble onto a group of prospectors who have already set up a mining operation.
Newly mined, unattuned Khyber dragonshards can be sold on the open market, though nearly all shards not sold on the black market are sold to the Finders Guild.
Availability
The entrances into the Khyber depths from which these dragonshards are drawn are spread across Khorvaire, so no single location or region can provide a consistent supply of Khyber shards. House Tharashk, through the Finders Guild, supplies Khyber shards to the major markets of Khorvaire: Sharn, Flamekeep, Fairhaven, Wroat, and Trolanport. While most of this supply is ordered and rationed to specific artisans or Houses based on a carefully regulated priority list, House Tharashk does supply small amounts of Khyber dragonshards to the general markets in those cities.
The price of a small Khyber shard varies based on size and quality; a small shard is typically worth 4d4×75 gp, or an average of 750 gp each. Larger shards, known as greater Khyber shards, are in even greater demand, fetching 4d4×500 gp, or an average of 5,000 gp each.
Other Sources
Rumors suggest that the gnomes of Zilargo maintain secret caverns beneath Zolanberg where Khyber shards are grown. After all, the gnomes were the first in the modern era to master elemental binding, and Khyber shards are an integral part of the process. These rumors conclude that the gnomes must have had a source of such shards before a market for them existed. More likely, the gnomes used their diplomatic skills to trade with agents of the daelkyr, gaining Khyber shards without endangering themselves.
The Cannith Forgehold, House Cannith’s mighty fortress in the Cogs of Undersharn, is built near the lava beds underneath the city. Some speculate that House Cannith maintains secure Khyber caverns, but only those in the confidence of the masters of making would know for sure.
LAVABURST
One of the dangers of extracting Khyber shards is the possibility of releasing trapped magma in a lavaburst. A lavaburst showers the area around the dragonshard with molten rock, dealing 6d6 points of fire damage to creatures within 20 feet (Reflex DC 15 half). In addition, a creature adjacent to the source of a lavaburst that fails its saving throw is immersed in lava and takes 20d6 points of fire damage on the following round.
