Kakishon Quest

[delabarre]

I'm making some alterations to the LoF storyline to adapt it to my PCs' style. One thing I want to do is give them a motivation to activate the Scroll of Kakishon. So, here is the text of a note they will find on a corpse in Kelmarane:

Spoiler:

For decades, I have scoured Garund seeking the secret laboratory of the Archmage Nex, the founder of my homeland. To no avail have I searched and fought and bled from the sand dunes of Osirion to the Mana Wastes to the jungles of Sargava. But now, at last, in the ancient scrolls stored in Quantium, I have found this clue: that Nex, distrusting his students and courtiers, moved his laboratory and the journals of his arcane knowledge into the miniature paradise realm he had created, Kakishon.

The chronicles record that Kakishon could only be reached by means of a magical map that Nex had created -- and that map has been lost for thousands of years. I have scryed to the extent of my power, and my otherworldly contacts could only tell me this: that the last time the gateway to Kakishon was opened was almost four hundred years ago, deep in the Brazen Peaks of Katapesh. Perhaps the map is still there, near Pale Mountain, where the gateway last opened? But I must be careful -- those mountains are infested with vicious gnolls and worse creatures.

[Ryzoken]

I would be very careful on how much interest you provoke in your PCs to activate the scroll. I threw precious little out there, just the printed data that knowledge checks uncovered, and at mere mention of treasures and pleasure, the party rogue convinced everyone else into letting her hold the scroll (with a little help from the party cleric) and activated it on watch with UMD's Activate Blindly feature. Normally that wouldn't work, but I didn't want to deny a silver platter activation and then try to railroad it later, so I flowed with it. The problem?

They skipped the entire 3rd book.

No trip to Katapesh, no saving of Rayhan, no interaction with the Sons of Carrion or Father Jackal. No mass combat scenario, no browsing of Katapesh's famous bazaar, nothin.

If you put the note in Kelmarane, you'll probably be facing a scenario similar to the above. Your PC's, assuming they get nailed by your additional hook, will pop the scroll as soon as they get it and are relatively safe. No more 3rd book.

Side note: if your party does end up popping the scroll and you're not cruel enough to make them fight beasties that are 2 CR higher than the sane maximum, consider applying a story award of however many xp it takes to get the lowest xp party member up to 9th. Make sure you note it as a story award, and make sure you suspend the level and a half rule that session. Preferably before announcing the xp you're giving out. Of course, my players aren't one to look a gift xp in the mouth, but yours might be. Or you could punish them severely for opening the scroll without knowing everything about it. I hear death traps are a staple in some D&D circles...