I really like the adventure Mad God's Key from issue 114, but haven't gotten a chance to run it. I'd really like to open up my Savage Tide campaign with it, but would like some ideas on how to make it fit the setting better.
The opening acts with the barge chase and the thieves' den are excellent and can be used unaltered. Where I run into a snag is in what the cultist wants the key for and where he goes.
Because the local area isn't riddled with cairns like the region around Greyhawk, I'm not sure where the final confrontation should take place. With the impending adventures inside the smugglers caves and the Lotus Dragon tunnels, I'd like to shy away from tossing in just another cave system.
I also don't have the foggiest idea of what the book's for. I never saw the sequal RPGA adventure, so if it's explained in there, I wouldn't know.
So, to make this a little more self-contained, what do you think a Vecna cultist could be after? Perhaps instead of trying to gain access to the book, he really just wants the key to enter an old crypt in the Sasserine cemetery. Maybe the stolen book told him which crypt to enter to get whatever he's looking for, but the crypt was mage locked and only the magic key could open it. When the party finds out which book he stole, they might get a clue that he's looking for a specific crypt.
Any ideas what he might be looking for?
Incidentally, I'd rather this not tie into the AP other than character introductions. The idea of Lavinia hiring them to retrieve her key because she'd heard about their early adventure to recover a stolen key is enough of a cross-over for me. Although I may take advantage of the Green Dagger gang to explain the lack of a large thieves' guild until now.
Instead of a crypt, maybe he's holed up in an ancient step pyramid. Maybe there's a humongous Olman calendar that he believes, if anointed with blood and with the proper ritual, could bring some sort of evil outsider into the area. Or perhaps he believes that it will bring back the original Sasserine, the cleric of Wee Jas the city is named for. It doesn't have to make sense, necessarily; some madmen are just madmen. This is a good idea for setting up why Lavinia would want to contact the PCs.
I used the Mad God Key when I started the adventure path but only used the first half of it. The crypt portion at the end didn't seem to add much to me. The opening sequence with helping the lock smith and the chase along the docks were great. I pretty much had them finsih in the Green Dagger Guild with the Vecna priest getting ready to take out the leader of the guild. In the end the players stopped the priest and the party rogue actually joined what was left of the Green Dagger guild. In fact when they finished clearing out the Lotus Dragon guild the rogue moved the Green Dagger guild into that location instead.
I used the Mad God Key when I started the adventure path but only used the first half of it.
I've considered that exact thing for much the same reason you did. The warf chase and the infected thieves are the best part of the adventure. However, I also liked the idea of the thieves being tricked with a fake antidote so want to follow thru with a wicked priest getting the key to open...something.
Maybe something like a crypt where someone was buried with an arcane locked tomb. The priest could've learned of a wizard who was buried with a unique spell scroll.
Ultimately, the goal will be to get the group together (independently witnessing the ransacking of the locksmith's shop) and bring them to the attention of Lavinia to retrieve her family key.
This post got me looking at Mad God's Key which I had bought in the .pdf of 114 (an issue I had gotten solely for the Isle of Dread backdrop), and I agree that it would be a great starter adventure for the AP. I'm actually going to be running it on Saturday. However, I really only want to run the first half, so the "key" really isn't all that important.
I'm trying to think of some other mcguffin to replace the key - something else valuable that maybe draws the Lotus Dragons in as part of the plot instead of the Cult of Vecna.
Any ideas out there? So far I thought of a watch rotation. It could be simply the antidote. Maybe the Green Daggers we poisoned by the Lotus Dragons, and being weakened they had to hire someone else to get them whatever they need to get better (potions, alchemical reagents, etc).
I do like the idea of the PCs confronting the cult leader in the guildhouse though. That could work. Anyway, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Did you change your avatar?
Here was my outline (except that my campaign has been put on hold pending some real life business among some of my chums):
Basically (and leaving out the Eberron-specific things), a cultist was trying to access a mausoleum in the cemetery where a wizard was interred to block an access point to a demonic gate he died trying to close. To keep the gate penned up, his tomb was wizard-locked at a level that nobody could break it.
So, the cultist needed the key and pretty much followed the plot of AMGK to get it. The book stolen from the library was just a volume of the Registry of the Interred that was to show the cultist specifically which tomb to go to. The party was supposed to infer that that missing volume meant he was trying for something in the cemetery and stake it out. Big fight ensues...etc. etc.
Except for an opportunity to explain the fragmented thieves guild status of Sasserine, and give Lavinia a reason to hire the PCs (as 'key recovery experts'), I intentionally kept it away from the plot line of the STAP. I figure not EVERYTHING has to foreshadow the campaign.
Yes I did change my avatar. I was walking past the Misfit Monster store, and this li'l fella was just too cute to pass up. Of course he's already eaten my best silverware, and I have to keep him away from my car, but he's just so lovable.
I actually like your outline - I may up and yoink it. I was thinking about tying to the Lords of Dust cell that was mentioned in the conversion notes as a replacement for the church of Vecna, so I think that might work - especially if they are trying to open a seal of some type.
Thanks.