Hi all,
Just a quick question about Tempest Rising and the sandbox(ish) mystery that makes up Part Two: in the book it says that Jaymiss Keft, in addition to pointing the PCs to Haddon Pike, can identify the statue of a tengu they find in Pike's house as potentially Corlan, an old shipmate of Keft's. The book references Step 10 here, which sort of seems to imply that Jaymiss can tell the PCs everything they need to know about Corlan--ie., that he lives in Hell Harbor and they should go there to look for him, which would trigger the encounter at Corlan's, and effectively end the mystery. This is a hitch for me because the PCs are tracking down Jaymiss before investigating the Beachcomber/Brine Banshee angle at all!
I realize there's probably only a 50% chance that they'll ask Jaymiss about the statue regardless, but I wanted to inquire: how did you run that? Did Jaymiss know who Corlan was but not where to find him? Did you just skip it? Did your PCs never even think to ask?
Thanks in advance!
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One of the ways that I handled it was that when the PCs visited the temple of Calistria in Quent, they learned about Dr. Fitch. Obviously, a temple of Calistria would have a good relationship with the local traveling doctor... I'm sure they would have periodic needs that his medicines, salves, and remedies could take care of.
Since the PCs were so very helpful there, Dindreann suggested that they seek him out, since he is quite well traveled in The Shackles and may have useful information. Doctors often hear very interesting things from their patients after all.
When they found the statuette in Drenchport, the PCs immediately thought to ask Jaymiss about it; he gave them the info about Corlan being a minor smuggler based in Hell Harbor.
I don't think that if the PCs go to Hell Harbor and seek out Roweena and Corlan first that it would necessarily eliminate the need to continue with Beachcomber and Brine Banshee.
If you look it over, there are tons of places where you could plant notes, messages, or other evidence that could link each of the scenarios to the others.
For example: If your PCs head to Hell Harbor and it seems like they are on track to bypass the other encounters, have them discover clues in Roweena's quarters or Corlan's apartment that point them towards the other areas next.
It's true that Roweena is the ringleader, but they need to gather as much info on the spy ring as they can if they want to impress the council.
If they decide to take what they found at Hell Harbor to Tessa and bypass the rest, you could even have her express enthusiasm but skepticism about what they have discovered so far. "It's good, but probably not enough... have you followed up on those other leads?"
She could even give them "new" leads to pursue.