My party has no "motivation" to go to Magnimar and I don't want to railroad them into it, but at the rate they are going they are likely to be the sandpoint villains.
Currently the game stands something like this:
5 Members all at level 8 (one may still be 7)
Human Fighter - Seaborn
Dwarf Druid - Giluk
Half-elf Rouge - Dipnose
Human Bard - Maera
Human Sorc - Belithiri
They finished up the Misgivings last session and I dropped numerous hints about the root of the problem. Xanesha letter, Foxglover manor key (successfully identified), I even gave them the ledger telling them about the Seven's Sawmill. But instead they headed back to Sandpoint to investigate the Old Light. Belithiri and Maera met with Brodert and learned some stuff. Dipnose went to stalk Titus Scarnetti since he owned the lumber mill. Dipnose wants to get revenge for the murder of Kathryn because he is "dating" Shayliss. The others didn't do much around town that day, just rested up and healed.
The next day Seaborn, Belithiri, and Maera went to Magnimar for the sole reason to get a Mithral Breastplate. I deemed the trip to be four days, so nine total there and back (one day to pick up the armor). Meanwhile, Dipnose all but disappeared from the town, using at hat of disguise to find out more about Titus, his routines and weak points in his protection. Giluk just meandered about town, crafted a wand or two. There were another two murders that "Seaborn" commited while he was gone . Faceless Stalker Hemlock came up to Giluk and was inquiring about the rest of the group and told him to have Seaborn come talk to him right away when he returns. They both rolled well, so Hemlock trusts Giluk about Seaborn being out of town.
The party returns, a fight almost ensues, but Hemlock said he trusted the party and knows they didn't do it. Well a couple more days have passed and the party has done nothing. Now Dipnose is set to kill Titus this coming session, another murder will take place and Seaborn will be arrested for it.
Any suggestions on what I should do?
I was thinking of having the faceless stalker steal Seaborn's weapon, then kill Titus and leave a note from Xanesha detailing stuff about playthings. Then a retired PC comes to the tarvern that morning and talk to them about the other murders and link them all to greedy people and that two possible targets are Titus and Ven. Then Hemlock bursts in and Seaborn gets arrested but Hemlock says it is for his protection before the Scarenttis Retaliate.
The only problem with this is that I am not so sure Seaborn is going to cooperate with Hemlock. This could either be a party wipe or very very bad for the story.
My personal take: The world happens around the PCs, and if they refuse to take any action, the world happens TO the PCs.
Murders are ongoing. They have information that there is someone named Xanesha in Magnimar masterminding it all. They don't care. They don't have a paladin, so you can't threaten him/her with falling, but they're certainly not doing anything to help their cause.
I'd go ahead and murder Titus and have Seaborn locked up for the crime. If Seaborn refuses to go willingly, force him to fight (and possibly kill) town guards and Hemlock. Have it go downhill *fast*.
I really have little patience for PCs who sit back and say, "Oh, the GM has to give us more clues eventually. It's not like he's going to have us arrested or kill all the NPCs in town or something. So let's just wait and see what happens."
Dipnose is stalking Titus. Dipnose should witness Seaborn murdering Titus and decide what to do. Either they capture themselves a stalker, or Seaborn is guilty of killing both Dipnose and Titus.
The world will proceed. Yes. It can go very very badly for the party. But it's hard to say they weren't warned and didn't deserve it.
"Oh, someone's pretending to be Seaborn and killing people. Ah, well, not our problem. Let's let Hemlock deal with it."
Seriously??
It sounds like your players aren't interested in being the good guys.
One possibility to think about is to change the plot, such that the PCs are the bad guys. There us an outline in Wayfinder #7 on how to turn Runelords into an evil campaign. In this version, the PCs want yo claim the power of the Runelords as their own.
If your PCs aren't motivated to investigate murders, then they might be motivated for power.
My personal take: The world happens around the PCs, and if they refuse to take any action, the world happens TO the PCs.
Murders are ongoing. They have information that there is someone named Xanesha in Magnimar masterminding it all. They don't care. They don't have a paladin, so you can't threaten him/her with falling, but they're certainly not doing anything to help their cause.
I'd go ahead and murder Titus and have Seaborn locked up for the crime. If Seaborn refuses to go willingly, force him to fight (and possibly kill) town guards and Hemlock. Have it go downhill *fast*.
I really have little patience for PCs who sit back and say, "Oh, the GM has to give us more clues eventually. It's not like he's going to have us arrested or kill all the NPCs in town or something. So let's just wait and see what happens."
Dipnose is stalking Titus. Dipnose should witness Seaborn murdering Titus and decide what to do. Either they capture themselves a stalker, or Seaborn is guilty of killing both Dipnose and Titus.
The world will proceed. Yes. It can go very very badly for the party. But it's hard to say they weren't warned and didn't deserve it.
"Oh, someone's pretending to be Seaborn and killing people. Ah, well, not our problem. Let's let Hemlock deal with it."Seriously??
I went with the arrest and Seaborn actually complied with it. The others went stalker cathing and semi-cleared Seaborn, at least with Hemlock. But the Scarnetties hired some thugs to try to kill Seaborn for killing Titus. Had a near TPK, my dice were nice with the final fireball and everyone had less than 5 HP. After that they were scrambling to get out of town.
Thanks for the suggestion.
And I must say I absolutely love reading your campaign journal NH.
Awesome! Glad to hear it went well, and thanks for the thumbs-up on my campaign. We're back to weekly, and I'm actually going to go off-roading with the party for a while. We'll see how that goes...
Nothing redeems a party greater than saving the town that dislikes them from a raid from giants and a dragon. ;)
Alternatively, have the players run NPCs like Hemlock and try to save the town without PC help.
I already have that worked out. Two PCs are (not so) "romantically" involved with people in Sandpoint. And another is looking to recruit Shalelu as a cohort. And the important people of Sandpoint don't distrust anyone really since up to this point they have been slightly more helpful than they needed to be (they took care of an attic whisperer problem I threw in there, which a lot of the town is very thankful for).
It is really only the Scarnetti's that hate the party and even then it is only one PC. I might just have Hemlock talk them down while they are out and about. Not sure yet, still got a while before that comes to a head.