Finders Guild

“What is lost will inevitably be found, and we will find it.” —Kaarvis d’Tharashk of the Finders Guild

House Tharashk, the bearer of the Mark of Finding, founded the Finders Guild. Centuries ago, the dragonmarked members of the house decided to market their unique services to tribes and nations that neighbored their native Shadow Marches. While the dragonmarked inquisitives and explorers of House Tharashk were quite adept at their trade, they discovered many other individuals offering similar services. To capitalize on the entire market, the house created the Finders Guild, inviting others to join so they could benefit from each other’s knowledge and provide a network of resources across the continent.
Now, the Finders Guild is still primarily composed of House Tharashk members, but it also includes many independent inquisitives, bounty hunters, explorers, and prospectors. House Tharashk manages the operations of the guild from its enclaves in major cities across Khorvaire. If something needs to be found, the first place to turn is the Finders Guild. Dragonshards and the Finders Guild Dragonshard prospecting isn’t the only function of the Finders Guild, but a significant part of the income produced by the guild comes from the acquisition of dragonshards of all varieties. The Mark of Finding gives Tharashk prospectors a leg up on the competition, since they can use their dragonmark magic to more quickly locate dragonshard deposits. Through the Finders Guild, House Tharashk has control of, or at least prospecting rights for, most Eberron dragonshard fields in western Khorvaire, including the most lucrative fields in the Shadow Marches and Droaam. The guild maintains a presence in Stormreach, organizing expeditions into the wilds of Xen’drik to acquire Eberron or Siberys dragonshards.
Even expeditions into the depths of Khyber usually involve the Finders Guild in some way. Either the expedition is following a map provided by the guild, is led by a guildmember guide, or will sell unearthed Khyber shards to the guild, provided it returns to the surface. Even if the Finders Guild isn’t directly involved with a dragonshard prospecting expedition, it is likely that the guild soon learns of its existence. The guild pays competitive prices for unattuned dragonshards, with a premium if the origin of the shards is also provided. Of course, with the inquisitives and bounty hunters at the guild’s disposal, a new Khyber cave or Siberys fall zone won’t stay secret for long, at least within the guild.

The Finders Guild in the World

“Looking for somethin’?”— Braak’akka, Finders Guild mercenary
The Finders Guild sponsors a number of activities that draw the interest of adventurers. Exploration, investigation, bounty hunting, and the search for wealth are all fine endeavors for a PC. Add to this the fact that House Tharashk maintains enclaves throughout Khorvaire, and characters would always have a source of potential employment and adventure.
The Finders Guild is operated by House Tharashk, and the leaders of the guild are humans and half-orcs that bear the Mark of Finding. The headquarters of the guild is located with the house headquarters in the city of Zarash’ak, in the Shadow Marches. There, a council convenes to discuss all aspects of the guild’s business: mining, prospecting, bounty hunting and tracking, investigation, and the new mercenary enterprise.
The head of dragonshard acquisition, which includes mining and prospecting regarding dragonshards, is Vurlaak d’Tharashk (N male half-orc rogue 4/dragonmark heir 3). Vurlaak has a particular knack for judging market conditions, and he has kept the dragonshard business profitable since before the end of the Last War. He is keenly interested in expanding guild operations into Q’barra and Xen’drik, because he fears that the Eberron shard fields in the Shadow Marches will eventually be depleted, and looks to those locations as new sources of revenue. Vurlaak is well respected by other members of the guild and the house. He proved his dedication to the success of the Finders Guild by once personally leading a team of prospectors on a Khyber shard reclamation mission. Only half the team returned, but the spoils of that mission alone funded the operations of the guild for many months. When not in the Shadow Marches, Vurlaak attends to guild business throughout Khorvaire, flying from city to city on an airship on loan from House Lyrandar.
Most members of the Finders Guild are happy to be a part of it. The guild provides consistent leads for work that the members would have a difficult time arranging independently, due to the capricious nature of the professions that the guild represents. With the Finders Guild, a bounty hunter can start off after a new mark, a prospector can get a new lead on a lode, and an investigator can start the trail of a new mystery.

NPC Reactions

The citizens of most of Khorvaire’s nations treat the Finders Guild with the same measure of respect they have for the other dragonmarked houses. Even though many members of the Finders Guild are independent contractors, when on guild business they are afforded a higher level of cooperation, and membership in the guild confers some validity and authority to a guildmember’s position. The common people of the Five Nations are generally indifferent to the guild, and they do not go out of their way to work against the guild’s aims.

Finders Guild Lore

Characters with Knowledge (history) can research the Finders Guild to learn more about it. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
DC 10: “The Finders Guild is a bunch of bounty hunters and trackers, and orcs, too.”
DC 15: “House Tharashk runs the Finders Guild. It supplies most of the dragonshards in the Five Nations.”
DC 20: “The Finders Guild pays handsomely for dragonshards, and sometimes contracts independent adventurers to investigate rumored dragonshard locations.”

Because the Finders Guild is active in most major cities, a DC 15 Gather Information check in any town or city will get a character information regarding the nearest contact for the guild, and in most major cities will also gain the information above for a DC 15 check result.

The Finders Guild in the Game

The Finders Guild provides a perfect means to start an adventure for PCs of nearly any level. Low-level PCs could register with the guild to gain information on adventuring opportunities, such as locating a missing person or escorting Eberron shard shipments. At mid-levels, PCs might be contracted to lead a Khyber shard mining expedition. Even high-level PCs might be contacted by the Finders Guild to assist in artifact retrieval or to track down a particularly dangerous fugitive.
As members of the guild, the PCs not only would have to deal with the missions they are assigned, but would need to make positive impressions on other, more senior guild members. Completing missions not only successfully, but also in a timely fashion, is important to ensure future work. The Finders Guild could also represent competitors of the PCs’ group, racing toward the same goal, which could be a dragonshard deposit deep within Khyber or a fugitive marked for death whom the PCs know to be innocent. In these cases, conflict need not be deadly, but can still be suspenseful.
Any character who bears the Mark of Finding is eligible to join the Finders Guild. All others must pass a cursory background check before the guild will provide anything more than menial tasks, such as guarding caravans or finding lost pets. The guild doesn’t pay any bounties directly, but acts as an intermediary between those who have lost someone or something and those who find that same person or object. In the case of dragonshard acquisition, the Finders Guild collects and purchases the shards at the behest of House Tharashk, which then sells the dragonshards to other interested parties. In nearly all instances of business arranged by the Finders Guild, the guild assumes a commission on every bounty and sale equal to 15% of the bounty’s writ or the sale price of the item in question. Since any money exchanging hands for these services passes through the guild, this fee is automatically deducted from the payment.
Dragonshards are a different matter. The Finders Guild pays the market prices given earlier in this chapter for unattuned dragonshards of all kinds. In addition, if the selling party also indicates the source of the dragonshards, a 10% premium will be paid upon confirmation of the
source. In a well-defended location deep within the House Tharashk compound in Zarash’ak, the Finders Guild keeps records of all known dragonshard harvesting locations, including Khyber caves, Siberys fall zones, Eberron fields, and ancient ruins of the daelkyr and the giants in Khorvaire and Xen’drik, respectively.


People and Places Important to The Finders Guild

Vurlaak d’Tharashk (N male half-orc rogue 4/dragonmark heir 3) - The head of dragonshard acquisition, which includes mining and prospecting regarding dragonshards.

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