Ok, I've been wracking my brains all week trying to think of a graceful way to work this and my brains hurt without getting me appreciably nearer to a solution.
Here's the skinny:
A while back we had to introduce a new wizard character while the group was in the Free City. It fit the player nicely to have had him be apprenticed to Tensor before Rary's betrayal. I was imagining the young wizard mostly running errands, maybe learning a first level spell or two, but thinking that he's really cool for hangin' with Tensor. Think Baker Street Irregulars from Sherlock Holmes stories. The player was as tickled by it as his character. Cool.
But now this is coming back to bite me a little bit. We have just successfully averted disaster at the end of the Games and now it comes time for me to figure out how to get the party back to Diamond Lake. Bear with me here. We're having to introduce another new character here who will be a Diamond Lake native (rogue 5/druid 5). This is all well and good and gives me a vehicle to convey things if I need to.
Now the published hooks are Eligos' note and the fact that there's a dragon in town. Eligos' note is a little tricky for me, because why would they need to or care about going back to talk to Allustan if the party wizard already knows Tensor (or did 10 years ago or however long it's been)? They don't necessarily need Allustan's introduction anymore. So I'll need to reword Eligos note...somehow.
As far as the dragon, I'm having a hard time figuring out why the party would rush back to the town. Wouldn't they expect the higher ups to deal with natural disasters like an irate dragon? There is one remaining party member who is from Diamond Lake who would certainly wish to go back to check up on his family, but currently he's an NPC. So I don't want all of the motivation to come from the DM. What a fun night of roleplaying that will be. The DM talking to himself and the players riding the railroad. As for the new player, he just left Allustan's side 2 and a half days ago. It just doesn't seem as graceful as it could be to have him be the vehicle to call them back. "So your character trekked all the way to the big city, but now you need to scream for help and get back to your small town as quick as your little legs can carry you."
I'd love to hear suggestions about how to bridge this slightly awkward moment between modules. Even if your plans, or what you did at this point, don't seem directly applicable, please share. Other stories always help spark ideas in my overtaxed noggin.
Thanks for the help once again O Wondrous Paizonians.
Instead of having Eligos assassinated, have him skip town because he gets wind of an assassination plot. He takes the PCs' stuff with him. He sends them word (through Celeste, maybe, or my namesake in your campaign) to meet him in DL as soon as possible. He wants to consult with Allustan on the way to Tenser's castle, but doesn't share these details with them. Loose lips sink ships and all that. (Does your party even know that Eligos and Allustan have ties to Tenser yet? Mine still doesn't, at the tail end of AGoW.) If the party will follow without news of the dragon, you can have the dragon hit right before they arrive in DL. Eligos has already skipped town (no one knows where he went except Allustan, who is up checking out the whispering cairn . . .) So, they've got to rescue Allustan to get their stuff back and find out that Eligos is at Tenser's castle.
Depending on your party, AGoW may or may not be interesting. Once they manage to kill Augerric and loot Icosiol's tomb, I wouldn't encourage them to explore any unexplored sections, unless they are enjoying it. Have fun with the shadow spider, though, and watch out for the djinn summoned by the Seal of Law if you've got a chaotic party. And the dread wraith. And the black pudding, and the Salamander, and the wind warriors, who just about knocked off my party.
Write up a nice dream for one of the characters, about a small town ravaged by green flying worms spitting acid and killing people, depending on your timeline, it could be a mental subconcious call from the trapped Allustan. When the dreamer tells about the dream, the NPC from DL should recognize the town and beg the party to go there (a little bit of rail roading, but that is what you want in the end and if the dream is done in a cool way...).
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I like to post what happened just in case it helps out future researchers.
Despite all my angsty-hand wringing beforehand, in the end it worked out almost as written. The party patron for the Games (Ekaym as written) received a note from Eligos just before the Games started. The street urchin who delivered it took too long (a full day), so the info couldn't be relayed to the PCs before the fight. I had the note talk about the repercussions of failure to stop the ritual with the Apostle of Kyuss. Otherwise the players never really know how close they came. This way they can cherish the knowledge that they saved thousands of people that day, even if no one else knows about it. Anyway, this mysterious note also mentioned that Eligos felt as though someone was on to him and that he was in danger and something about relating what he'd learned with Allustan and a 'mutual friend'.
The PCs returned to Eligos' manor to find him dead and mutilated (lower jaw removed to prevent Speak With Dead). They were pretty shocked which was quite satisfying. Skipping over the details, they ultimately decided to send a 'Sending' message to Allustan, updating him on current events and asking him to contact them. The spell worked, but there was no reply (Allustan's in the trap in Icosiol's tomb already). A good enough spellcraft check helped them to realize that the spell would have failed if they had contacted a dead person. So they put two and two together and decided to get to Diamond Lake as quickly as possible. Luckily the Mage's Guild had a scroll of greater teleport. We ended the session with "The scene before you bears little resemblance to what you were expecting. Allustan's manor is little more than a smoking ruin."
I love it when the players go for the bait on your plot hook.
Thanks for the suggestions all.
Sounds like you done good, Eltanin!