My PCs are firmly into Champion's Belt. They've entered the games and won the first 2 battles (I added an extra one). The problem I'm having is that they only seem interested in exploring Raknian's palace. I've tried to subtly discourage that by:
-Eligos tells them to focus on the arena while he tries to gain access to the palace via political means (i.e. he wants to donate to the games)
-Ekaym asks them to search through the under-structure for Lahaka, never mentions the palace.
-Guards around the outside of the palace, basically described it as impenetrable
-Deleted the entrance to Raknian's palace from the service level. Only ways in are a) through the shrine or c) the front door or b) through a "skywalk" that leads directly to Loris' special reserved seats in the arena.
-Eligos DID secure a dinner meeting with Raknian and specifically asked them not to mess around with the palace and blow his opportunity.
They aren't very creative PCs. Their only idea so far is to cast invisibility and explore. Once they went upstairs pretending to just be innocent, naive gladiators and explore the service level but when the guards saw them they turned, ran and tried to release the lions (not sure why they did that). They aren't the type to think of divination spells, reading the prisoner's mind or trying to talk to him, or bribing guards or polymorphing or anything like that. Also as many times as I bring up worms, apostles, mystery . . . I think all they really remember/care about is that raknian tried to have them killed and they want to kill him back. And Raknian is in the palace.
I guess I'm at a loss. If they go to the palace they will almost surely be caught, kicked out of the games, thrown back in jail (they've already been there once as a result of HoHR) or killed by loris and his many guards. I think they'd love the final gladiator battles and finding bozal and the apostle but I'm afraid they'll blow it by getting caught doing something incredibly stupid (like going into raknian's palace, with only 9 minutes of invisibility) and miss one of the finest moments of the campaign.
Anyone else deal with this? I have some ideas but so far they've all fallen flat. (Also, did anyone have to make a "Raknian's palace" and if so any suggestions on a map to use?
First, I think it is natural to want to explore the palace, and not the underground features beneath the Arena. Eligos tells the PCs Raknian has political clout, and that they need concrete evidence against him before they go to the authorities. So even if their plan was not just to kill him in response to him putting contracts out against them, the natural place to look for evidence/secrets implicating Raknian is in his palace. I was disappointed their wasn't much detail about the palace in the module; it presumes the PCs will look for clues underneath a very public arena. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
I'm getting ready to start this module, and I have the same concerns you do. I don't have any answers yet, but I will come back to this thread to share any I come up with.
You could drop rumors/hints that there are old smuggling tunnels that could get get the party into the castle stealthily
If any divinations are cast they could provide clues as to the best place to seek the evidence.
Sounds like the players need a little guidance. Often I shake my head because the players fumble around an area because they forgot they picked up something really helpful in the previous room...
Ekaym or Celeste could contact the PCs with information they found out with divination spells after chatting with the PCs. You could have the city guard publicly execute one of the other team's rogues that tried to sneak into the palace and got in over their heads (killing one of his servants or stealing something major from him) as an example. If nothing else is helping, they could fight a spawn of Kyuss made from one of the other team's members or a Coenoby guard. After the fight, have one of them notice a green worm wiggling away--if they follow it and squish it, they find another one several feet away, and another. This way, the worm trail could lead them to the dungeons below the Coenoby.
If all else fails, let them wreck havok in Raknian's manor. Replace the servants with evil creatures so that, if they get caught, they have a way to show they are 'innocent.' Raknian's political power is enough to keep him out of jail ("oh, those were just a bunch of our arena monsters that broke loose and made it to the manor"). While they are tearing through the manor, they find some sort of evidence or journal talking about the dungeons to lead them there. As for Raknian himself, he's out of the house at the time they attack. As a bonus, have Raknian publicly thank the PCs for clearing the 'escaped monsters' out of his house at the next fight, all the while giving the PCs a nasty grin.
Thanks for the help everyone!
Here's how I ended up dealing with it and it work out nicely. Originally I had Eligos tell them to search the arena for clues while he tried to get into the palace diplomatically--under the guise of wanting to start a non-profit that would raise money for arena and palace restorations.
Either the players forgot about that bit (though I reminded them every session) or they didn't care because they kept focusing only on the palace. So I had Celeste & Ekaym (who meet with them after every fight) relay the news that Eligos had his meeting with Loris and he detected a secret door in the Palace that seemed to lead toward the Arena. That got them focused on finding a secret door in the arena understructure. They then found the hidden shrine level. Bonus: a near-TPK in the Alkilith room kept them from looking for secret doors there. Also I think they're now convinced they found the thing they're supposed to find so I bet snooping will be at a minimum.
@Tiaximus - those are some fantastic ideas. If somehow they do end up still going to the palace I'll go the route of the monsters and public thanking. Sounds devious. It'll really, really make them hate Raknian.