Here's the set-up: The group I'm reffing is just about to finish up Blackwall Keep. Now, due to the fact that we have a larger than preferred group, the party is slightly lower level than they should be. Combine that with the upcoming doppleganger-in-the-party plot and various player scheduling conflicts in April and I find myself wanting to postpone Hall of Harsh Reflections for a couple of sessions and run a side-trek first.
This led me to look through my Dungeon back issues and I think I've settled on "The Fiendish Foot" from issue 122. It's the right level, it's relatively short and it seems to be fairly straight forward. My problem is in how I want to tie it into the goings on in Diamond Lake before the party bids their (almost) final farewell and heads off to Greyhawk.
Currently, due to the party's actions, Dourstone has left town and Smenk has been implicated in the whole Ebon Triad cult business, so he's not going to be around much longer. I'm thinking this puts Chaum Gansworth in an excellent position to make his bid to become the premier mine manager in town. But first he wants to make sure that Gelch Tilgast isn't going to be a problem.
My plan is that Gansworth will recruit the PCs to go find the Fiendish Foot and bring it back to him, with the intention of using it to frame or implicate Tilgast and get him out of town as well. My problem is that I'm not sure how specifically he could use the foot to do that.
Any suggestions, my fellow Dungeonites?
How about a vision for any Lawful paladin or cleric in the party revealing the location of another section of the rod of many parts? or if you think you'll need several side treks, do as I am and do AoW as it is, but inbetween every long journey have an ambush or powerful and deadly monster attack them for their piece of the rod. I've been incorporating tidbits of a quest for all the rods parts into the storyline rather easy. And they like it's fun, even the ones who don't want to use or touch the rod know it's powerful. They think it's cool.
How about a vision for any Lawful paladin or cleric in the party revealing the location of another section of the rod of many parts? or if you think you'll need several side treks, do as I am and do AoW as it is, but inbetween every long journey have an ambush or powerful and deadly monster attack them for their piece of the rod. I've been incorporating tidbits of a quest for all the rods parts into the storyline rather easy. And they like it's fun, even the ones who don't want to use or touch the rod know it's powerful. They think it's cool.
Murastrix, these are good ideas, but the PCs don't get the rod until Gathering of Winds--which is several adventures down the road. There are other reasons the party could be ambushed, though.
I read the fiendish foot briefly, but have forgotten what it's powers are. A brief recap?
As opposed to another dungeon, How about droping in a Legacy Wewapopn or two en route to Greyhawk? The encounter(s) where the items are found, the subsequent search for knowledge, and a short quest to perform a ritual or two could easily be padded a bit with a few 'random' encounters and be enough to boost everyone up. If you have a coupl'a plyers that are on the weaker side of the party average, you could even tailor the LW(s) towards them.