hello ... wondering if anyone out there has any thoughts about an interesting response to the players' loose lips in The Whispering Cairn.
In my campaign, Khellek has come to Diamond Lake in search of a lost expedition of Seekers who found a tomb containing a strange lantern-puzzle and some ancient glyphs. Unfortunately, Khellek has the wrong place and is checking out the Stirgenest Cairn. Meanwhile, the PCs have begun plundering the Whispering Cairn and have found some interesting stuff (not the red lantern, though, and haven't passed through the face-trap). Having returned to Diamond Lake, the PCs have let slip to Khellek what they have found, and he is obviously interested.
Realizing that other party members may have spoken too freely, the party cleric (with the help of Allustan) has sold Khellek a false map to the Whispering Cairn that will hopefully throw him off track long enough for the PCs to finish looting the cairn. Unfortunately for the party, Khellek is no idiot and suspects a double-cross. The obvious plan is for Khellek and Auric to check out the (false) site from the map, while Tirra tails the PCs and discovers the true site. Once the rival adventurers know the true site, they move in. I have played Auric and Tirra as too genial to allow outright murder, but Khellek has no compunctions and the party cleric and fighter both have family in Diamond Lake.
I would like to allow the rivals to move in on the PCs' turf (to really make them RIVALS) but without disrupting the flow of the adventure. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
O
I went ahead and had them all meet face-to-face in the Carin. The party was all just teenagers, so Auric and Tirra didn't want to harm them. Khellek didn't want to piss his own party off, so he backed down. In stead, when things got heavy, he just cast sleep or colorspray (I forget). They then proceeded to haul the stupid brats back to town to get them home to their parents.
The player party reacted by going back into the Carin and taking away all the lanterns, then lying low for a while till the rival party left town.
As things stand now they've eventualy made good friends with Tirra (but they don't trust her much further than they can throw her), got into an atheltic rivalry with Auric, and absolutely hate Khellek's guts. It's been a blast!
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I ruled that Allustan's interest in the Cairns was very protective. He would love to find Icosiol's Tomb, but for his own curiosity, rather than profit. Digging too obviously could lead evil tomb-robbers to the area, and there may be treasures that should not fall into the wrong hands, especially if he is correct about the interred being one of the Wandering Dukes.
As such, he vets all treasure-seekers who come to town, and foils their searches, if he deems them unworthy. In this case, he arranged for the Greyhawk City Trio to be given the location of the Stirgenest Cairn, to discourage them from coming back. (And I had the Stirgenest Cairn still be occupied, by some of its namesake beasts).
I had planned that he would attempt the same ruse if the PCs came to him, first, with no reputation behind them.
The Trio were introduced in my first session, having raised hell through the bars of Diamond Lake, Auric having challenged many people to a wrestling contest, trashing the Feral Dog, and brawling with Kullen, the regulars, the militia and the Garrison troops. I changed Auric to be a Grappling specialist with a huge ego (think of a WWE star), partly to make it less likely that lethal combat would start, and also to justify how he could be 'Champion of the Games' at such relatively low level (obviously he won his belt in a minority-interest gladiator event).
I started the PCs in the Spinning Giant, and had injured Garrison troops come in for medical aid. Auric followed after, and bellowed for anyone who was man enough to take him on. This nearly started a lethal combat with the sergeant, but the PC paladin calmed everyone down, and agreed to vouch for Auric's behaviour, if he agreed to have one quiet drink. This got them chatting to Auric, who bragged about his strength, and wanted everyone to feel his greased firm body. (This was a parody of a local gamer we all know, who's always been a little too eager to strip to his pants and demonstrate his 'martial arts').
Tirra and Khellek were far less drunk, and far more cautious, interrupting him and changing the subject if asked what they were doing in town.
Needless to say, the PCs just had to follow them to find out what they were after, and the Scout found they were collecting supplies for cairn-exploring.
Since I gave half the PCs prior knowledge of 'a cairn that only the dwarf-children knew', they decided to go straight there without consulting Allustan.
After their first trip, they returned to town. They had found the Seeker rings, which they remembered from Khellek's hand, so needed to find out if they had been out of town.
Khellek was found playing dragonchess, and the Scout pretended to be interested. Unfortunately, his interest did not fool them, and Tirra decided to investigate him in return. They had been to the Stirgenest Cairn, suffered bites, and were now convinced that this detour had been set up by the PCs, especially as I set up the Scout's background as the son of an ex-Seeker, who betrayed his allies. After finding out his true name, Tirra recognised this, and the family resemblance, and from then on, they were followed to the hills.
The PCs shook off the tail, but they managed to narrow down the general area, and met up with their former colleague, Uluvant (I added an extra ghoul, since the first one went down prematurely, the Scout finishing it off with a feat he hadn't yet bought <rolls eyes>), who had snuck out behind the PCs, through the collapsed shaft.
After ascertaining the location of the cairn, they realised they needed more clues to reach the true tomb, and laid in wait at the old mine-shack...(continued HERE...)