GMing The Dragon's Demand, and have a bit of a sticky wicket... [SPOILERS]

[gamerdork]

TITLE SAYS SPOILER, DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE PLAYING THIS MODULE

Hello, fellow gamers. Well, the players/PCs have done it again, going quite off the rails. To anyone who has GMd this module, I could use some advice on how to handle this...

The situation: the group has cleared Tula's crypt, and is now interested in exploring The Monastery of Saint Kyerixus. However, they could not just use the front gate, like any logical visitor would. Oh no - they sent in their rogue, buffed to the nines with the likes of invisibility, alchemical silence and expeditious retreat, etc. (Nothing illegal, so don't get caught up in that aspect.) With the +20 for invisibility and his stealth bonus, he is nearly undetectable, and in this case no Perception rolls noticed him.

First night: he scouted basically the western half of the complex. This lead to him noticing Azmur Kell in the grove area (F4). He made the Perception roll to connect Azmur's red hat as the same hat worn by Clausyre at the auction. (As a side, he also opened - just a bit - the door to the abattoir; then promptly closed it after seeing the corpses and being overwhelmed by the smell.)

Making it back to the party safely, he reported his findings. And this is where they derail and/or disembark the train, so to speak. The group now assumes that Azmur is either the lead bad guy, or in major cahoots with the major bad guy.

Second night: they devised a plan to get the entire party to the grove, and have managed to knock unconscious and abduct Azmur Kell. At least they intend to question him, and not outright slay him!

I don't necessarily want to railroad the PCs, but kind of need to a little. I'll have to play it by ear, based on where the questioning leads. I have to read the section of the module again, but intend to at least use the angle of, "Oh Gods get me back before Aeteperax finds me gone and slays my wife! Your blood will be on her hands! Etc.!"

Does anyone out there have any other suggestions that might make it fun getting them "back on track"?

Thank you kindly for your time, and happy gaming!

[Dragonborn3]

I haven't read my copy in a while, but if he knows the name use it. This pretty much sounds like something he'd say anyway if he thought they could help.

[Warped Savant]

There's a note in the module that says that if the PCs kill him they can learn the bulk of the information from his journal. (What his journal contains is up to you, but you could have it spell out everything that he could have told them.)
Anything that Azmur isn't sure about (Eg: "Azmur also suggests the PCs seek the dragon's original name") you could have entries say things like "Aeteperax left Hapscot in a metal box to rot because he apparently said the dragons real name. I wonder if any of his other lieutenants know it?"

I'd suggest (if the PCs kill him) that you take the time to read over each of the entries about what Azmur has to say and figure out an appropriate way he would have written it into the journal. (If you're fairly certain he'll die before being able to say anything maybe type something out that you can hand to your players to read through as his journal?)