I'm thinking about running Carrion Hill as a prequel to Strange Aeons, and looking for some advice on how to handle it. I would like to make the transition between the two as seamless and natural as possible. For now I'm planning something like this:
Backstory - the party is a group of four 5-th level adventurers who have worked together for a while. Things have been pretty rough recently - they have been travelling all across Ustalav, moving from city to city, unable to find any decent work. What little money they have made is running dangerously low. They haven't had a decent meal in over a week now, and have decided to take literally any work in the next town they visit (which happens to be Carrion Hill).
Then Carrion Hill starts and plays out as normal.
At the end, when the PCs have dealt with the spawn of Yog-Sothoth, they are greeted by Haserton Lowls IV, who arrived at Carrion Hill as soon as he learned of the events taking place there (through unknown sources). He dismisses mayor Heggry when the latter brings up PCs reward, saying that he does not have the authority to issue a reward that huge (or whatever) and instead offers the PCs only a fraction of it (like 300gp). However, Lowls says that he would gladly pay more if the PCs would be willing to tell him everything about their experience with the monster and any occult lore they have found, and offers them a permanent high-paying job as his assistants in his "research" (though the description of its nature is awfully vague).
IMO, this setup should get the players more or less invested in actually investigating the events at Carrion Hill and not just straight up nope-ing out of there, as well as provide a solid background for the start of Strange Aeons.
I would greatly appreciate any insights and advice on what could be improved and any pitfalls I should watch out for. Thanks in advance!
