How Do I Get My Party To Thistletop?

[Pasoguava]

Hi All,

Title says it all. About to take my party through the Catacombs of Wrath and am not certain how to encourage them to head to Thistletop thereafter. Not trying to railroad them but I have minimal time to prepare for each session so would prefer to prep Thistletop.

Some ideas:

1.) Have them discover Thistletop-themed paraphernalia in the goblin "nest" in the caves off the Catacombs.

2.) Have Mayor Deverin ask them/offer them a bounty to bring to justice the instigators of the massacre at the Glassworks (I made all of the goblins at the Glassworks Thistletop goblins). For the record, Sheriff Hemlock is in Magnimar at the moment.

Just wondering what others have done to get their parties to head to Thistletop as opposed to sandboxing around for a long time.

Thanks for any help!

[SnowmanInHell]

Have your PCs ran into Tsuto yet? Been a little while since I looked at the specifics, but I thought he/his journal was one of the leads to Thistletop.

Other than that, there are the merchants who were attacked and had their horse stolen by the goblins. They could stumble I In to Sandpoint looking for heroes to go horse saving.

After that, Shalelu could point them in the right direction. Maybe after the raid she spent some time working on locating the base, and now that she found it she needs help taking it.

[TomParker]

My group didn't need any coaxing between Tsuto's journal and the meeting with Shalelu. She then led them most of the way, sending them to deal with the goblin base while she continued to scout the other goblin tribes.

Did your PCs not find the journal or are they uninterested in it?

[Kalshane]

As the other's have said, Tsuto's Journal pretty much states "the bad guys are based out of Thistletop and trying to release an ancient evil underneath so they can destroy Sandpoint."

Between that and Shalelu possibly nudging them in that direction, it should be pretty obvious what they should do next.

[Pasoguava]

Wow. My current level of idiocy knows no bounds. Completely forgot that Tsuto's journal stated all that so explicitly. Thanks, all, for the help!

[TomParker]

Do you print the handouts and give them to the party? For me, it makes it a lot easier not to overlook things.

Good luck!