The story so far:
The players were hired by the lord of a city to escort him to a "secret meeting" being held atop the land's highest mountain. There have been assassination attempts, some political intrigue and unseen enemies attempting to thwart their journey.
The center of dwarven society, and greatest dwarven city, is build into the mountain the PCs are traveling to. When the PCs reached the dwarven city, they learned of plans to kill the current king (the believed end of the royal line) and seat a noble being controlled by the BBEG.
The reason for this, is that only the king or someone of the royal bloodline has access to the ancient vault, wherein an artifact is kept - an artifact of elven make we will call "The Key". The PCs discovered this plan, and also learned that dwarf in their party is a lost heir to the throne. They prevented the King's assassination, acquired "The Key" but don't yet know what it does.
They PCs were also tipped off that the Lord they have been escorting isn't what he appears to be. When we resume game, they will likely attempt to ascertain his true identity.
I need help bringing all of these things together. Sort of... the tie that binds.
-There is no secret meeting. At the top of the mountain is actually a prison, a magical "bubble" holding an elf queen. Accessible only by someone holding "The Key".
-The lord that hired them is actually an ancient elf in disguise (the king/lover/husband of the imprisoned elf queen), and knew the dwarf in the party was an heir to the dwarven throne and thus would have access to "The Key" - he obviously wants to reunite with his love.
Here's where it starts getting difficult. I want the reason for the elf queen to be imprisoned to have something to do with a lost elven city. Releasing her reveals the ancient city along with its power/treasure, but I also want something bad to happen (maybe several bad things to happen). Perhaps in doing so the Tarrasque is awoken.
I like that it gives the PCs choice.
Do they help the elven lord reunite with his lover knowing the consequences (the PCs may or may not be powerful enough to fight a tarrasque by the time they reach the summit).
Do they prevent the elven lord from releasing his queen, saving the lives of people?
Also, there is still a BBEG in the background, that just wants the power/riches he believes can be found in the lost elven city.
So, I guess I'm just looking for a few suggestions to help pull all of this together. There's a good framework, but there's a few holes I'm having trouble filling.
Optionally, you could have her lover go berserk and try to keep the PCs from killing her now-posessed body.
While they fight him, the newly-introduced BBEG in the queens body teleports away (or escapes in some other way) and from then on, the party can
- chase the bbeg
- investigate the ruins of the ancient city for clues on what happened
- try to contact the big outsider-guy to get the soul of the queen back
- something entirely different
- all of the above
edit: fixed spelling, placed spoiler.
Fantastic! Great ideas, I especially like the poorly worded wish.
There is a very special kind of wonderful cruelty to turning wishes against the users, isn't there?
I am REALLY rolling willsaves a lot while building my adventures. In the back of my head, sitting on a shelf, I have the idea of an evil, wish-granting entity that grants wishes to mortals out of boredom and amuses itself by twisting them as much as possible. The only thing holding me back from doing it is the really slim chance that my players might manage to come up with a twist-proof wording for their wish and might then unbalance the campaign. (they are currently level 9)
If they don't make their wish foolproof, just think of the plot hooks one could build from that and the trouble one could get them into... *starts daydreaming*