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Well, our campaign has been progressing quite nicely, and the group has finally reached "Secrets of the Soul Pillars". But right now I'm facing an interesting challenge. My players seem adamant that they won't/can't face the church of Wee-Jas.
Some background...
Throughout the campaign I have been seeding the game with hints that the Church of Wee-Jas is up to no good. It started with Flood Season and their refusal to help control the rising waters. Later, at the end of Zenith Trajectory, one of the characters (a holy warrior dedicated to Wee-Jas ironically) hitched a ride on Kravichak after the insane derro kidnapped Zenith from the party. He was polymorphed into a toad at the time. I decided, to foreshadow Embril's involvement with the Cagewrights that the derro would teleport to the cathedral where Zenith could be raised (since he had been killed just before being teleported away). While there, the holy warrior discovered Embril and Ike are in league with the Cagewrights and the beholder.
Later, after Alek Tercival is placed into a coma during the battle with Nabthatoron, the party was forced to turn the paladin over to the church of Wee-Jas for care, in exchange for the lifting of the siege in Redgorge. Eventually, through scrying, the party learned Alek was being prepared for some foul arcane ritual, teleported into the cathedral and rescued him (too late though, I've decided that Alek has already been possessed by some demonic entity, possibly the spirit of Nabthatoron himself)
So to date the party knows the following:
1. The church of Wee-Jas is a powerful supporter of the corrupt government in Cauldron.
2. The church (or at least Embril and Ike) are involved with the Cagewrights and the beholder.
3. The church was trying to perform some evil ritual on a paladin of St-Cuthbert.
And now, the party has been attacked (and almost killed) by assassins. However, since one of the assassins was a priest of Vecna, the party is convinced the Ebon Triad is responsible. Now, I know that the group will use divinations to find out who was behind the assassination attempt so I can point them in the direction of the church that way, but the party is just too scared to go up against the church of Wee-Jas.
They are convinced that the church is too powerful politically and magically, and would be impossible to attack. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can, subtely, guide them towards that confrontation? I think finally taking down the church, and Ike, will really make them feel like they've accomplished a significant goal in the campaign. I've let them know that they've entered a phase of the campaign where they are expected to be much more proactive, but I don't know if they'll actually decide to finally confront the church once and for all.
My advice: leave it alone for now.
Your party obviously *gets* the Embril and Ike are up to no good thing. You've done enough foreshadowing. It sound like they expect storming the cathedral is the climax of the campaign. Your job as the DM is to cater to that expectation.
You can continue the rest of the adventure path and return to the cathedral later on in the campaign. There's plenty of other ways to point the PC's in the direction of the soul pilars. Perhaps with a note found in Jil's posession when the PC's storm the brass trumpet. Or in the hands of one of one the guests at the Rhiavadi manor. Or you could skip the soul pilars alltogether and reveal the information in some other way.
Later on, set up the cathedral as the center of whatever part of the AP you're in. For example, you could make it so the access to the fiery sanctum is through the cathedral. The PC's have to fight their way into the building, find the secret entrance to the sanctum and then rush towards the entrance to the sanctum. If you like, you can switch some of the monsters arround so that the cathedral has some demondand guardians. Only if you feel the fiery sanctum would be too tough otherwise, of course.
I think I'd recommend the opposite approach, if only to avoid having to re-write (and power up) that section of the adventure.
Come up with something important enough that they have no choice but to storm the cathedral. Maybe someone gets kidnapped so that the Wee Jas clerics can complete the ritual that was started with Alec. Maybe Jenya discovers with a Divination that there are four pieces of a powerful item scattered throughout the Cathedral and she needs the PCs to get them, RIGHT NOW. But come up with something that forces them to enter the cathedral, even though they're scared silly.
You might also consider letting them discover a secret passage into the Cathedral (perhaps because they catch someone coming out if it), so they can develop a plan that involves stealthy entry and reconnaissance. That's much better than forcing them to "storm the fortifications" when they're already convinced it's too dangerous.
Let them find their way to the Soul Pillars. Perhaps in the Pillars, they can learn something to help them attack the cathedral. Has word gotten out that Embril is gone and only Ike is left in the church?
Or, step up the reasons to make them go. Nothing like forcing the players to meet their fears. Ike could hire more assasins that keep coming after the party (Maybe NPCs dear to the PCs are harmed in the process), Ike panics and trys to remove anyone who might help the PCs (Jenya is kidnapped/killed), Ike captures dozens of townspeople to perform some foul ritual to protect him from the PCs, etc.
It seems to me the problem is that your party believes that in attacking this temple they are taking on the whole religion, which is a very powerful organisation. Given one of the characters is a holy warrior and it says later that the temple in Sasserine(?) didnt know about Embril & Ikes shenanigans let your party know that these dodgy alliances of Embril & Ike are neither known about nor approved of by their superiors. If the party realises they are effectively 'rogue agents' and in attacking them they arent going to have to face the wrath of the whole religion they may be more inclined to attack (indeed the holy warrior may get some kudos for ridding the religion of such disloyal miscreants)
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All in all some interesting suggestions...
I would prefer, as much as possible, to stick to the campaign as written, if for no other reason than I have only a limited amount of time to work on the game and making large-scale changes to the structure of the campaign would take too much time.
Right now the party is aware that Embril is currently away and Ike is the one in charge. So even though I've foreshadowed Embril as being a very powerful spellcaster, they are aware that they won't need to face her directly.
I like the idea of the party learning that ike and Embril represent a "rogue" faction of the church earlier. Perhaps I can have a low level accolyte approach the holy warrior with his own concerns that the temple in Cauldron is up to no good.
I think at the moment, if the PC's do not deal with the church, I will have more assassination attempts made against them, especially if Vhalanthru becomes increasingly annoyed that Ike is not dealing with the party correctly.
If I need to force the issue, I may just have Alek return from his recuperation in Sasserine (where the party left him after the rescue) and work with the party to bring the church to justice. I may even try to work in the priest of Pelor (forget his name) in convincing the party that something must be done about the cathedral.
I think one of the biggest fears my party has (particularly the noble-born wizard who is campaigning for mayor) is the political fallout of attacking the cathedral, since it is unlikely this attack can remain a secret.
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Alright, well last night my players took the initiative and finally decided to assault the Cathedral of Wee-Jas. After scrying on the remaining assassins, and performing divinations, the pary learned that the Church of Wee Jas was directly responsible for hiring the assassins.
I also decided, that since the party wizard is Zachery Aslaxin's brother, that during the Stormblades confrontation with Fetor Abradius, he would cast a sending to alert the party of their troubles, and instead of Todd being killed, I chose Zachery. The party rescued the Stormblades and raised Zachery, foreshadowing Fetor's appearance in the rest of the adventure.
thanks to everyone for the suggestions on keeping my party on track. Now I just need to prep the final encounter with Ike, the remaining assasins and his allies.
Hmm . . . looks like I might be a little too late to throw my two cents in, but another thing to keep in mind that is happening in the SC campaign I'm in.
You mentioned one of the PC's is associated with the Church of Wee Jas . . . well, once the members of the church that are in league with the CageWrights get found out . . . boom, instant promotion in the church heirarchy.
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Hmm . . . looks like I might be a little too late to throw my two cents in, but another thing to keep in mind that is happening in the SC campaign I'm in.
You mentioned one of the PC's is associated with the Church of Wee Jas . . . well, once the members of the church that are in league with the CageWrights get found out . . . boom, instant promotion in the church heirarchy.
Possibly, except the Holy Warrior in question has been undergoing a major crisis in faith for the last few adventures, and has, in fact, turned his back on Wee-Jas. In fact, the character has begun to offer prayers through Nidrama as a means of finding a new faith. I do not think Wee Jas will look kindly to him trying to rejoin her faithful.
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well at this point, I think this would be a great time to add a new cool NPC "inquisitor" prestige class of the WeeJas church to come to Cauldron and investigate the goings on there in the church; perhaps to bring a modicum of respect and order back to the city's temple and the religion in that region.
Robert
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well at this point, I think this would be a great time to add a new cool NPC "inquisitor" prestige class of the WeeJas church to come to Cauldron and investigate the goings on there in the church; perhaps to bring a modicum of respect and order back to the city's temple and the religion in that region.
Robert
This is a great idea. I can have him arrive from the main church in Sasserine to investigate the Cathedral, possibly even become a new ally or antagonist to the party.
This is a great idea. I can have him arrive from the main church in Sasserine to investigate the Cathedral, possibly even become a new ally or antagonist to the party.
Yes, I could see this going either way. The inquisitor could be grateful to the PCs for helping eliminate the corruption from the local church. On the other hand, Wee Jas is a lawful deity, and the inquisitor might not appreciate the PCs acting as vigilantes and interfering in Wee Jas affairs.