D&D Plot: Moving Faerun into the 16th Century DR with Teleportation Circles

The other day I had an adventure idea: the PCs are hired by a group of cities to establish an interconnected network of teleportation circles, allowing instantaneous travel around Faerun. But they are dogged by mercenaries working for shipping companies who see this as an end to their business.

Here’s how my idea would play out: as everyone knows, the Harpers have a network of teleportation circles they use to quickly move between cities, but the Masked Lords of Waterdeep as well as Lord Neverember of Neverwinter wish to establish a teleportation circle network of their own. They have spoken to the lords of Elturel, Port Nyanzaru, Suzail, as well as farflung Muluk and Karatin, and wish to establish a network of teleportation circles that will allow for increased trade amongst the cities. These would not be ordinary teleportation circles however, but large, 100-foot-wide circles that would place merchants directly into the markets of the cities they were traveling to, ready to sell their wares.

It is simplest to connect Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Elturel and Neverwinter, and the players begin to meet some resistance. Merchant lords protest when they arrive in the cities, saying that it will destroy their caravan and shipping businesses. “What need will the world have for ships?!” they demand. Soon, the players begin to encounter greater threats. What seems like a simple ambush of bandits is revealed to be orchestrated by these merchant lords. The Harpers as well don’t like that the heroes are usurping their hold on instant travel between cities, and try to stop them as well.

Eventually, the PCs will begin their journeys further east, and out from under the watchful eye of the lords of the Sword Coast, the merchants begin to really try to stop the heroes. Greater foes are summoned. Deals are worked out with dragons to hamper the heroes’ progress. They begin planting lies and propaganda, telling the common folk that teleportation circles can cause you to turn into a terrible beast when you come out the other side, so you shouldn’t risk it. Behind the scenes, the merchants try to find a way to undermine the network itself, poisoning the magic that connects the circles to sever the ties forever.

This idea was inspired by The Dollop podcast episode, When the Cars Came, that talked about all the ways people fought against allowing cars to take over the roads. You can draw on that history, people’s opposition to the train, and the current fight around America for the creation of a high-speed light rail.

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