OK, so, I DM for a group that just started Burnt Offerings a few sessions ago... and already they're a little off course, but I don't want to be one of those DM's that say, no, you can't go there yet, you're not high enough level... so here's what happened...
Party gets to Glassworks, fights with Tsuto and his goblins, but Tsuto escapes via smuggler tunnels.. to my surprise, my players don't give chase along the dark tunnels as he is already out of sight when they follow him down there. they hear the muffled cries of Ameiko, find Tsuto's journal, and take the time to block off the tunnels.
after reading Tsuto's journal, they decide to go to Thistletop, bypassing via stealth all the encounters in the bushy tunnels, get to the fort, clear out the goblins on the first level and then head back to Sandpoint to rest (I was lenient on them to get back, as it was the end of the night, I had just decided that all the goblins/dogs decided to hide and let them pass)
that's where we are now. I'm pretty sure they're going to want to go back to Thistletop to finish up, but should I create some sort of distraction that will hopefully divert their attention down into the Catacombs of Wrath?
or have all the goblins that they skipped, move into the fort under a new leader, and have them prepped that the PC's will come back?
do they need to do CoW? what are the consequences of NOT doing it? other than missed XP.
thanks in advance
As for Thistletop itself, you should make your players aware that their initial intrusion is very unlikely to go unnoticed. Not only does Tsuto know a bit about them after his escape, but Nualia and co should understand the PCs are not to be underestimated since they managed to slaughter most of their primary 'fighting force'. I absolutely would have the goblins from the tunnels moved into the main fort, and maybe Nualia has even named one to be the new chief.
As for the Catacombs of Wrath, while it's unfortunate they skipped them, this is a great opportunity to put them to further use. If your PCs successfully save Thistletop and revel in the glory of victory for a time, you could have the sinspawn below break down their barriers and begin harassing the town above. You could have this occur around the same time the murders are happening in the Skinsaw Murders, and have the havoc and attacks by the sinspawn act as a red herring.
Obviously your PCs will be a bit tougher by that time, assuming they've taken out Thistletop, so a level or two of barbarian on the sinspawn will help to make them stronger as well as fits the theme well (look here, at the bottom covers adding class levels for monsters). You can also give Erylium another class level or two of witch to further beef her up (but be careful, her ability to constantly go invisible will still be a tough problem for a low level party).
As for the consequences to the story for missing the Catacombs of Wrath, it's not only another great chance for the PCs to see some more Thassilonian architecture, they get to see an actual runewell and the danger it represents. This area also foreshadows that there are more catacombs even deeper below, which is a critical part of book 5.
I hope this advice helps!
Nargemn has good advice - here are some other random thoughts...
You could have the sinspawn make trouble now while they are recovering at Sandpoint and before they return to Thistletop.
Perhaps Nualia launches another attack on the town via the tunnels in retribution. So Tsuto, some goblins and some sinspawn try to attack the party. This would look like a response to the pc's actions and when they try to figure out where the attackers came from, that leads them to the CoW. What kind of relationship do your pc's have with the town's power structure - Mayor, Sheriff, etc.? Those sorts of folks are going to view some dark, ominous place directly under the town as more threatening than a goblin tribe living in ruins half a day's travel outside of town. Especially if goblins are using it as a secret entrance to the town.
You could do nothing. The pc's have a plan and they're working it. They are maybe under-leveled for Thistletop (especially with a surviving Tsuto added to the defenses) but they made it this far. Are you using milestone XP? If so, you could just level them now.
CoW is important - it introduces key ideas: what is a Runelord? what is a Runewell? And it not only foreshadows Book 5, it explains the motivation behind Karzoug and his minions in Book 4. Nualia's notes explicitly reference the runewell and Elyrium so that should be sufficient to draw them to explore. Assuming they survive to that point, they'll be over-leveled and you'll need to decide whether to give the quasit and her minions a bump or two.
I think you should send some Sin Spawn up from the caves to attack the city, or another raid like some other posters have said.
thanks
I think I'll do both.
reinforce Thistletop, plunk a few goblins on top of the watchtowers actually on watch this time with bows ready (it possibly may make them think twice about going in from this direction)
and have an attack come up from below and have the mayor tell them that taking care of this threat takes priority.
I had a single sinspawn emerge from below, and gave the runewell a minor AoE affect relative to it's sin: wrath. So if the party got within a certain radius (that I can't recall), they became angry. My party has some stellar roleplayers so I didn't have to get crunchy, but I imagine a DC 15 Will save or suffer a -1 to CHA-based skills checks might work.
The purpose was to entice them to investigate (because players are trained to hunt down the weird), and also give them a clue/foreshadowing.