Background: So, right now we are in [u]Flood Season[/u] and the party has just finished the Lucky Monkey portion of the adventure. The PCs have brought back Delasharn's body to the Church and have begun to investigate the disappearance of the wands. With a divination from Jenya, they were able to decipher that the path to the wands began with a cook at the "Tipped Tankard." Thinking that they had the jump on things, they traveled to the Tavern almost immediately after solving the riddle (they are pretty smart people) and confronted the cook with the information. Artus, IMC, already knew from Jil that the group was coming and was told by her to steer them towards Triel (a member of the Extortion Division of the Last Laugh) in the hopes of humiliating her in the eyes of the Last Laugh Jesters. Because of the way this interaction went, the party has become extremely suspicious of the entire adventure. There have been proposals that Jenya is at the heart of a conspiracy to trap the PCs! I'm really not sure how to run with this as I think I have colored the entire campaign by playing Artus the way I did. Basically, this is what happened:
PCs go to the TT and ask for Artus to come out. He comes out ahd immediately sits down in the chair across from the PCs and basically asks what they want (bear in mind, he was threatened by Jil to make sure he steered the PCs towards Triel). The party wants information on Triel, so he lays the "Note" (the one that is in the adventure) right on the table and leaves. At this point the party goes apes**t. "How could he have written that note so fast unless we knew we were coming?"...etc. I wanted it to seem suspicious but I didn't know they would jump on the conspiracy so fast. Essentially at this point, it took all my RPing power to convince them that there was city in peril and that they were the only ones who could help. I think eventually they will go after the wands, but I'm not sure that I can even move the story forward after this. I wanted to set up Jil as a longterm villian they could feel good about killing, but how the hell are they going to take the [u]Zenith Trajectory[/u] hook after this?
What do I do at this point? I mean I wanted Jil to send them a taunting "Thank You" note after they killed Triel and her crew, but now I'm not sure what to do anymore. I really like this adventure and don't want to see hours and hours of hard work go to waste...
They still need to go to the lake to find out where the wands are (and if they're not going to, have some flooding occur showing them the importance). Use the encounter at the lake to get things back on track.
They meet Artimus, he gives them the info. When they ask about Jenya, he says, "yeah right, Jenya goody-two shoes? Like Jil would ever assoicate with the likes of ...urk" ::poisoned crossbow bolt goes through his neck, dies::
Or maybe they meet directly with Jil. She laughs if the PCs mention that Jenya is involved. "Yeah, she's involved. When you kill the gal with the wands, be sure to come back to town and finish off Jenya as well. Oh, and the lord Mayor is involved too. Be sure to snick him for me as well."
Or something to that affect. Or is it effect?