That is PCs return to Cauldron with Zenith and give him back to Celeste (still beliving in Gortio's story) and the fake Davked Splintershield acted by Gortio.
Or why Cagewrights/Valanthru don't go ahead like this?
If Celeste suspect something she may still be captured by Valanthru but Gorthio will act anyhow as Zenith's father.
The way it is written, Vhalantru doesn't want Gortio to interact with the group often. At the same time, he doesn't want the trail to lead back to him, so he uses Celeste. Unfortunately, Celeste pokes around, finds out too much and must be dealt with.
In my campaign, by the time the party returned, Celeste was missing, and "Davked" had headed back. Vhalantru tried to have Zenith handed off to him, but the group was (amusingly) worried about Vhalantru's safety given Zenith's state of mind. Because I introduced Shebeleth earlier and am having him take over the Church of St Cuthbert, the group thought Sheb would be a good option for investigating how to heal Zenith's mind. Vhalantru did not fight them on this. There is obviously no need for Zenith to disappear, as he is under proper control.
A few days later, Vhalantru sent a messenger with certificates representing their rewards. The party was quite happy.
I have decided to change Celeste into a polymorphed Thifirane. Celeste is one of the identities she assumes while out spying for Vhalantru. I felt that would reduce the number of NPCs and bring things together a bit more. Later, probably in Lords of Oblivion, the party will learn the truth about Celeste.
My party fell for it, hook-line-sinker style. Handed Zenith over willingly, happy to be of service to the generous, concerned, and well liked Vhalantru, who they saw as being incredibly "down to earth" for a elite Noble. Even willing to tie up Celeste's loose ends!
Lords of Oblivion is going to be so much fun.
I'll be running Zenith Trajectory in a couple of weeks time. It will be interesting to see if the PCs become suspicious of Vhalantru when they hand Zenith over.
Black Bard,
My party also just handed Zenith over to Vhalantru! As you've said, it will be such sweet DM justice to see the look on their faces when Vhalantru is unmasked, and to hear them say the words: "We've been had!" :)
When I played out DelveDeep's banquet, I had Vhalantru agree to "sponsor" the player's group and provide them with potions of healing. My players think that Vhalantru is one of the few NPC's that they can trust and they often visit him to discuss their next move's. They are playing right into Vhalantru's clutches!
Hurm.