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On page 9 of Fires of Creation, it directs the GM to review three known facts with the players.
- 1 - The extinguished Torch (obvious)
- 2 - That the town's most powerful wizard and his experienced team hasn't returned from their second expedition
- 3 - That "Several other adventuring parties have gone missing in the caves, and Torch finds itself running short on new volunteers."
I had introduced that information during character creation (I had a Session Zero so that the players can develop their characters together). Thus, my players built their motivations into their characters.
Boffin the young dwarven smith was Khonnir Baine's assistant. Khonnir had left her behind on his previous two expeditions because of her youth, but no-one was stopping her now! Except she was waiting for Elric.
Elric Jones the half-elf magus adventurer (still 1st level, but acted experienced) was a frequent hireling of Khonnir Baine for field work. He had rushed to Torch from elsewhere as soon as he heard of the trouble in Torch but arrived too late for the previous expeditions.
Kirii the strix skald from the Shudderwood had befriended Elric on the road and was willing to help him.
The three recruited Val Baine (aged to 17 years old as a side effect of Boffin's backstory), who was obviously motivated to rescue her father.
A fourth player joined the party at 2nd level, but by then the party had demonstrated the ability to survive the caverns. We made his fighter's motivation that he was a caravan guard working on one of Garmen Ulrich's caravans and Garmen wanted a spy in the group.