In a rather amusing twist, my new Age of Worms campaign has a PC wizard who has set himself up in direct competition with Allustan. The idea is that he set up shop in Diamond Lake as an alchemist and sage to the town just a few days before Allustan returned and took all his potential clients.
Needless to say, this character (and the group as a whole) aren't that fond of Allustan.
I'm okay with that because they've done a good job with their skills and spell selections and I don't doubt they'll be able to put together all the clues and solve the mystery of the Whispering Cairn, and I think that will lead to a more PC-driven story as they themselves seek out more information leading to Blackwall Keep and Greyhawk.
My concern comes in looking at A Gathering of Winds where the PCs are supposed to go to the Whispering Cairn again to rescue Allustan. Is that the only way into this adventure? Will there be any clues presented anywhere that could lead the PCs to re-investigate this cairn or should I start playing Allustan up more and hope the party takes a liking to him?
Well, not liking someone and being in business competition with his is one thing, not being willing to save his life might be a completely different matter. It all depends on how they find out about Allustan being in trouble, I guess.
But think of the bragging rights the PC wizard would have over Allustan if they rescue him . . .
Well, the promise of vast treasure and powerful magic for the taking is always a good stand by. My group has simple needs, God bless them hehe.
In a rather amusing twist, my new Age of Worms campaign has a PC wizard who has set himself up in direct competition with Allustan. The idea is that he set up shop in Diamond Lake as an alchemist and sage to the town just a few days before Allustan returned and took all his potential clients.
My concern comes in looking at A Gathering of Winds where the PCs are supposed to go to the Whispering Cairn again to rescue Allustan. Is that the only way into this adventure? Will there be any clues presented anywhere that could lead the PCs to re-investigate this cairn or should I start playing Allustan up more and hope the party takes a liking to him?
Let's see . . . the PCs are in direct competition with Allustan, then they go to the Free City and when they get back their business competitor just 'happens' to have gone missing? A suspicious and corrupt person might think they hired someone to 'take care' of Allustan. Since Allustan's brother happens to be the suspicious and corrupt Mayor who controls the sheriff, I can imagine that the PCs might want to make sure that Allustan is found safe and sound.
Busker, that's genius. That's a twist I'm going to try very hard to toss in there. With the potential removing of two mine managers in Three Faces, Mayor Neff could easily see the PCs on some sort of power play once his brother goes missing.
The big challenge, I thought, was to figure out how Allustan would know to go to the Cairn if the party hadn't fed him information on it. The easy answer would be to have Allustan be checking up on his opposition and exploring what they've been up to. I'm not sure I want Allustan to even be aware of them if they don't go see him (how humbling would that be to the players), but I'm sure things will have developed enough by then to have something figured out.
Good advice, guys. Thanks.