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Oh! I like the idea of not having to go to Jorgenfist at all. I haven't read everything with this in mind, but does it sound possible to do this:
1) PCs arrive in Sandpoint after Hook Mountain, with two motivations - attend the anniversary party of the raid, and do some research on the name Mokmurian (they'll have been told that a book usually held in the archives at Magnimar is on loan to Ilsoari at the Academy in Sandpoint).
2) the raid on Sandpoint is going to be a bit bigger and fiercer, with Mokmurian (knocked down to about CR 13) as well as the dragon and his giant bodyguards present. Mokmurian himself has come to get into the region below Sandpoint. They should be ninth level by now.
3) During the raid, the sinkhole into the Scribbler's lair collapses. Mokmurian is slain by the party (I hope) either in the town, or as he enters/interacts with the lair. They'll get to hear Karzoug's eerie message.
4) the PCs find a partial library within/under/near the lair, and a linkage to a much abbreviated runeforge, where they can power up their weapons to some degree. In the library they also find information to pinpoint the location of Xin Shalast physically. By this time, they should be pushing 10th level
5) they travel into the mountains, and find the lost city. Epic battle ensues.I'm hoping they'll be at about 10-11th level at this point.
I have 7 players, who are all quite good, though only one is a real min-maxer. I can control the power level pretty well, so that doesn't bother me. I just hope that they won't be disappointed at not getting to go to higher levels...
But I'd much rather wind the story up in a more or less-intended way than just burn out on the whole thing, which is where I'm headed right now.