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Hello all, the title says it all this time. I managed to get my PCs on track in AoW despite their prior hatred of "The Whispering Cairn" and still managed to put them in the true tomb and up against Filge. I thought things were going great when they let Allustan do research on the horns, circlet, and talismen. I even had a PC who was a former assistant to big A.
However, then my PCs went and did something quite odd. They beat up Filge, took the worm and never bothered to tell Allustan! In a brief conversation with the PC Allustan hinted that he knew about them beating up Kullen and asked her what she and her new friends were up to. She flat out hid the truth and thus gave me no opening to ask about Filge or the cult. So right now they are inside the cult complex and will be fighting the Faceless One and his kenku minions in the next session this Friday, however I'm not sure where to go from there. I'm sure Allustan will ask about the cult and will learn about what they did down there, but there is no realistic way I can have him ask about the worm. The PCs kind of saw it as a minor detail and just flat out have not considered letting the sage take a look. Without the worm he has no reason to investigate it and no reason to send them to the Mistmarsh and later to Eligos!
I already have a few plans on how to continue the AoW without hinderance but I was wondering what any of you could think of. Thanks ahead of time!
I've only played through the Whispering Cairn (lost interest in the Path after that.. definetely didn't lose interest in Diamond Lake), and my players never bothered to contact Allustan once. Runes on the dungeon walls.. strange glyphs.. cool.. where's the gold?
As has been said before, the path is mostly about running around presenting clues to sages and wizards and asking for advice..
I'm sure you can think of a hook to get them to 3FoE anyway.. Smenk might contact them outright, and you can let them find more worms down there. Maybe then they'll contact Allustan.
The PCs can keep the worm a secret if they want, but there are already rumors of worm-carrying undead spreading around. Allustan knows of this and likely mentions it whenever the PCs are in earshot (he's smart enough to know they're more likely going to see the undead before he will).
The suggested hook for Blackwall Keep says Allustan has received a letter from a friend at Blackwall needing help. He asks the party to accompany him, but if memory serves the worms aren't really involved. Assuming the players follow him to Blackwall, they will run into the worms, and should recognize them on sight. After that adventure, they will likely be ready to beg for Allustan's advice and research.
I found this was an easy way to introduce the two alchemical compounds suggested in the adventure. IMC the party was extra-careful not to disturb Ilthane's egg, and the mage suggested they take it to Allustan, so I rewarded them for their caution by letting them transport it in a Bag of Holding. Allustan later sent them a package while they were at Eligos' mansion containing the new 'compounds' he had created, along with instructions on how the mage could make more.
In short, reward them for doing research or enlisting aid beyond simply answering questions about the story. If your players still don't want to talk to Allustan, let them; they'll pay for their 'ignorance'.
Mua-ha-ha.
It's been my exprerience that as soon as the Ebon Triad starts talking about the Age of Worms and Worms doing stuff and watch out for the Worms, the green one will take on a whole new meaning. As an added incentive, if it's not too late, stock a few more jars of green worms in the Faceless One's lab (where Smenk stole his from) to give the impression those things are a bigger deal than they thought.
If that doesn't work, and they just don't care about the worm, find another excuse to get them to Blackwall keep. There's been about 30 years of adventure hooks that involve the party carting off to the nearby tower in the wilderness, so just point them in that direction and let them go. Once the worms start showing up alive and crawling into their noses, they'll start looking for advice. I swear it.