So my players are just about done with the Hook Mountain Massacre. They've been given control of Fort Rannick and plan on restoring it (one of the PCs is a Cleric of Gorum and he's stoked at the prospect of turning it into a temple of Gorum...) Thing is, only one of the original PCs from Burnt Offerings remain. There aren't a lot of incentives for them to return to Sandpoint and it seems like I would really have to railroad them to get back for the start of Fortress of the Stone Giants. Shalelu is dead and a year is a long time to wait (as per the suggested ideas.)

I'm thinking of having the stone giants attack a semi-restored Fort Rannick or Turtleback Ferry. A siege encounter would be a lot of fun and would give the players the sense that Fort Rannick really matters.

What do y'all think? Is it more believable for the giants to attack Sandpoint or Fort Rannick?

Stone Giants. Shalelu is dead and a year is a long time to wait (as per the suggested ideas.)

I'm thinking of having the stone giants attack a semi-restored Fort Rannick or Turtleback Ferry. A siege encounter would be a lot of fun and would give the players the sense that Fort Rannick really matters.

What do y'all think? Is it more believable for the giants to attack Sandpoint or Fort Rannick?

Heck yeah! That's the point of the Fort, isn't it? Well, make sure that they have some connections to the NPCs in the area so that they have an emotional reason to fight. Make sure to give a lot of soldiers ONE quirk so that they can get choked up when they get killed.

I concur.

Flesh out some of the other locales nearby from Hook Mountain Massacre, like Turtleback Ferry. Give them some locals to interact with and they will have some people that they might start to care about. Just protecting the keep is an incentive, protecting the innocents though, that has a special charm.

Is there any reason the stone giant attack couldn't just hit Turtleback Ferry instead? I mean it's not like it would run that different in the ferry instead of sandpoint is there?

I think this is quiet a bit trickier than you think!
Renember what happens in the next pathfinder (and why the Giants were at Sandpont in the first place!!) I think that unless you can think of a way to encourage the group to get back to Sandpoint then the knock on effects could seriously be detrimental.

Maybe the giants attack he fort on thier way to or (better yet) from Sandpoint. A captured ogre or giant could lead the players back to sandpoint and then on from there maybe?

I think this is quiet a bit trickier than you think!

Renember what happens in the next pathfinder (and why the Giants were at Sandpont in the first place!!)

Nah, you could do it. You need merely say that the Scribbler was there instead of under Sandpoint. Perhaps instead of being a spy for Karzoug, he was a spy for…umm…the wrath chick… In this scenario, he never turned double agent, instead he was spying on Karzoug (explaining why he’s now found in Karzougia or whatever the nation was called) and searching for a way to defeat him. Badabing, you’ve got giants raiding the countryside, searching the general area where Big K knows this spy was hiding, hoping to find the information he’d uncovered that would lead to his own defeat.

I think this is quiet a bit trickier than you think!

Renember what happens in the next pathfinder (and why the Giants were at Sandpont in the first place!!) I think that unless you can think of a way to encourage the group to get back to Sandpoint then the knock on effects could seriously be detrimental.

Maybe the giants attack he fort on thier way to or (better yet) from Sandpoint. A captured ogre or giant could lead the players back to sandpoint and then on from there maybe?

Or you could move the scribblers lair to Skull Dam. The ogre's messing with it uncovered some formely flooded tunnels.

Skull Dam
Thats what I'd do yup!

Not so much as an issue as you would think

• Turrtleback Ferry is strategically important it is one of the two crossing points of the Skull river. Capturing it allows you to directly aim for Wartle and then Magnimar
  
• Make it so that your PCs find Karzoug order to launch an attack on Sandpoint amongst the papers they can loot from Mormurkian (" Seize and hold the town of Turrtleback Ferry. Capture the Traitor whateverisitsname and obtain the information as to the location of the Runeforge by all means necessary")