My group is meeting again soon after leaving off at the end of "There is no Honor" in December. While the players managed to clear out the Lotus guildhall and rout Rowyn, they have a tendency to glaze over when it comes to investigating. In short, they didn't find Vanthus' letters to Rowyn. After a session through the entirety of the guildhall and its denizens concluded that Vanthus was there, but have no idea where he is now.
They did get really banged up in the guildhall, so they took their portions of the treasure and are recuperating over the next few days leading up until the next session.
My original plan was to have the party's rogue contacted by a black market face in Shadowshore. This shady character is one the rogue has been very dependent on, so a large sum of gold has already changed hands up until now for informational leads and items of dubious ownership. With all the rival guilds vying for top dog in Sasserine's underworld, I reasoned it wouldn't take long for news of the Lotus Dragon's fall to spread. The party wasn't exactly subtle with their raid, having torched the front that was the Taxidermist's Guild to the ground, so I also reasoned unsavory characters would soon find their way into the remains for looting. Thus, after a few days, Vanthus' letters would be found - which would naturally be deemed worthless to anyone save possibly Lavinia (or maybe Rowyn herself). The party rogues' contact gets wind of them and haggles the pages for a cheap sum knowing his customer (who had previously prodded for information of Vanthus' whereabouts) would pay well.
The party gets their adventure hook without things seeming too ordained.
Now I have the possibility of a player interested in joining in on this session as a one-off. Their desire was to simply have me roll up a character and have them jump in and out as a oneshot. I'm thinking this is an excellent opportunity to flesh out the Jade Ravens a little bit. I want to give them a little more exposure before they resurface during the manor attack - it's been some time since their first chance encounter back in TINH, and I'm sure most of the players even forgot they exist.
I'm thinking of maybe sending the players off on a little side trek out of Sasserine and having the temp player jump into the role of one of the Ravens as a tag-a-long. At the end of the side trek, the players could find Vanthus' letters, or else some other less cliche indication that he is over in Kraken Cove.
I'm wondering if anyone has any supportive ideas for this direction I'm planning, specifically:
1) A convincing reason why the Jade Raven member would work with the PCs for this one adventure.
2) A short adventure or map suitable as an outside location that the Lotus Dragons/Vanthus used prior to the events of TINH.
(As a side note, I was also considering using some ideas I saw on the boards regarding Malcanthet testing the PCs, but I'm not if weaving something like that in would be a good idea so soon in the campaign)
Thanks for all the incredible information on the boards thus far (there are many incredible ideas I have "stolen" and plan to incorporate), and thanks in advance for any suggestions directly addressing my predicament!
I am considering a side quest at this point as well. I am looking at the party investigating the plantation Vanthus was at for 5 years. Find the cellar (which suvrives the fire) Find and talk with an invisible imp who came through when the demon was summoned. The imp will direct them to Kracon Cove.The party will stumble accross a Dagon cult on the journey down and be ambushed by Vanthus's business partners (lizardmen?) after leaving the plantation.
Hope this is of help.
You could let the rogue from the Jade Ravens tag along because of what the PCs did to the Lotus dragons. The rogue might be a member of a competing guild, or simply worry that the Lotus Dragons would become too powerful.