We finished Encounter at Blackwall Keep and the players found Ilthane's "egg" in the birthing chamber. However, rather than destroying it, they decided to take it with them back to Diamond Lake. I guess they may have figured it would be useful as a bargaining chip or a deadly little prank to play on Smenk. As much as I wanted them to deal with the egg chamber encounter, I didn't want to say 'no'. So I simply said it's too heavy for one person and both people carrying it would have to be super careful. No problem, they reply, we'll be extra careful. They managed not to drop it all the way back to Blackwall Keep, dealt with the Spawn in the basement and brought it back successfully to Diamond Lake.
At Diamond Lake, the characters made a little sales pitch to our old friend Smenk: "This authentic black dragon egg will ward off Green Worms!" they said. Smenk likely isn't an expert on matters of the undead or dragons (and the PCs killed off his undead specialist in the first adventure) so with a successful bluff check and a bit of roleplaying, Smenk is now the proud owner of a brand spankin' new Kyuss Worm Infested Black Dragon Egg!
We're now finishing up Hall of Harsh Reflections, so it will be a little while before they make it back to Diamond Lake. I want there to be some consequences for their ploy; for one thing, everyone in the group still believes it's Ilthane's actual egg. So having Ilthane destroy the town won't be a big surprise. But the way I figure it, maybe the worms "matured" into full blown Kyuss worms while the characters were out and after a disastrous attempt to hide from Ilthane, Smenk accidentally broke the egg causing himself and many of his cohorts (and then perhaps his apes, and then perhaps his servants and then a number of other undeserving townsfolk) to become Spawn of Kyuss. I'm thinking Smenk should be special, though, because of his lifetime of debauchery and corruption: perhaps he becomes an advanced spawn or a similar undead monster. Maybe I can use Mr. Dory's stats from The Styes as Smenk.
The plan for the return to Diamond Lake is as written in Gathering of Winds: the place is demolished by Ilthane, the characters can see wounded townspeople with horrific acid burns digging through the rubble of what used to be their homes, looking for the dead. Watch Captain Tolliver Trask is directing a quarantine of the area around Smenk's mansion and Lanod Neff and his goons are lying in wait for the characters, figuring that the "great heroes" of Diamond Lake brought this mess upon his town and should be the ones to clean it up. Most of the citizens won't know what actually happened, but the characters are a likely scapegoat regardless.
Does anyone have ideas on how to improve this scene I'm devising? I don't want too long of a side trek because I'm planning to run Gathering of Winds, but I think the characters need to have some understanding of the consequences of their actions: the Age of Worms is no joke. Also, one character is a LG cleric of St. Cuthbert and was instrumental in selling the egg to Smenk. I have mixed opinions on his involvement: Cuthbert wouldn't approve of harming innocents accidentally, but I think he would approve of the twisted justice that he inflicted on Smenk by selling him the egg. And having his god remove his spellcasting abilities for Gathering of Winds will definitely spell the death of the party. Maybe he should lose the ability while cleaning up the spawn, as a penance and means to understand how the innocent bystanders of Diamond Lake had to deal with them without the benefit of 4th level cleric spells and the ability to turn undead?
I had a similar dilemma with whether to take away the powers of the party's paladin and the CG cleric of Ehlonna when the latter shot an innocent dwarf guard while trying to infiltrate Dourstone mine by stealth. The party had hoped to avoid detection entirely, and the backup plan was to have the bard put the guards to sleep. It worked on three of them, but one made his save and was fixing to shout the alarm, so the cleric put an arrow through his throat. In the end, I decided not to hold the paladin responsible for another party member's split-second decision and that it would also be mighty inconvenient to take away the cleric's spellcasting/undead turning powers just at the beginning of TFOE. So I rationalized that from a CG perspective, while one tries never to kill the innocent, in a war on evil some of the enemy footsoldiers will die--working for a bad guy (even unknowingly) puts you in the line of fire, and as long as the CG cleric isn't engaging in wanton slaughter, such deaths are a regrettable, but forgivable part of the crusade. However, there will be a consequence down the road, for even now, the poor dwarf's kin are speeding to Diamond Lake to collect the blood-debt the PCs have incurred . . .
I do think, though, that selling the dragon's egg to Smenk, even thinking it's got a baby black dragon inside, is a bit questionable, because the probable consequences are bad for Smenk or for the surrounding community. (What's Smenk gonna do with a baby dragon? Probably either get his face sprayed with acid or use the little blighter to terrorize and intimidate his rivals and his peons even more than he already does. Either that, or resell the thing to his thieves' guild buddies in GH for a big profit, using the proceeds to further his nefarious plans.) So, it's a case of bad judgement, and the outcome should make the PC feel guilty and have to do something to fix the consequences in order to expiate his soul. This doesn't necessarily mean loss of powers and a casting of atonement, as long as the player recognizes his sin when confronted with the consequences, shows contrition, and does his utmost to rectify the situation.
Here's what I'd do. In her vengeful destruction of the town, Ilthane collapses a corner of Smenk's house--a rafter falls on the egg and cracks it open. Smenk turns into a favored spawn of Kyuss (Dragon 336). Give him an extra level or two of rogue over what he's got in the overload as necessary to make him a challenge to the party, and make sure to give him some cool monologue before battle is joined. "Foolish priest! You wish to forestall the Age of Worms, and yet in your greed you have brought the Worms to your home town! Great Kyuss is mightily pleased!" Have the party pull in 8 hours or so after the dragon's attack, so that the plague of worms has spread--besides Smenk, his dire apes and several neighbors have been transformed into Kyuss zombies, and after they are destroyed, roleplay the relatives coming forward to blame the party for the death of their kin. A lawsuit for negligence or a weregeld might be in order. If the PC has a conscience, he'll settle generously using his prize money from the last adventure--he doesn't have to have them all raised, but 500 gp per victim for a dozen or so victims, plus some sort of ceremonial penance (letting Jieran Wierus publicly flog him, perhaps?) drives the point home and makes the player feel as though there is a consequence for his bad judgement and greed. If the PC fails to acknowledge the justice of their claims--that is a good time to take away his powers and make him atone.
The lawsuit or demands for weregeld should be delayed until after the PCs have taken out Ilthane and rescued Allustan--that way they can be resolved without interrupting the heroic flow of the game. (The NPCs involved won't have connected the dots about the players bringing a big black egg to town and the same egg being found broken, in the ruins of Smenk's mansion, with some telltale dead worms inside, until after the players have set off to the Whispering Cairn, so you can have a mob or the appropriate village authorities confront them on their return.)
Neato, thanks Peruhain.
Quite welcome! Hope it helps.