my players left The Moonsea and all of my plot stories. They want to go to Shadowdale and talk to Elminster…a few words please Sure. Fire away. You need Elminster to plunge them into missions? Intrigues? Reveal the Zhent spies already shadowing them? ;}
Or do you need an adventure to reach up and smack them, on the way to Shadowdale?
(Or all of the above…)— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
They are looking for Elminster to find lore about things abyssal but an original encounter in their way ti Shadowdale would be great 🧙♂️ 1) So why not have some Harpers mistake them for Zhent spies being sent to provide misinformation to Elminster, and challenge them?
And the REAL Zhent spies are behind the PCs, shadowing them along the road because they think the PCs are…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
2) …Harper contacts going to deliver intel to El, and receive some from him. However, when they see the PCs meeting with the Harpers, they either attack both Harpers and PCs if the PCs are successful in diplomacy with the Harpers (i.e. …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
3) …aren’t fighting), or if the PCs and Harpers ARE fighting, the Zhents pile in on the PCs’ side (as they know these Harper agents by sight), which will make BOTH Harpers and attacking Zhents believe the PCs ARE Zhent allies. Out of…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
4) …sheer happenstance, there ARE some Harper contacts on the way to Shadowdale to deliver a “bone box” to Elminster (a bone box being a coffer made of wizards’ bones that encloses fell magic that ‘heals’ damage to undead, in this case a…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
5) …dozen death tyrants used as guardians by the Zhents in various hidden cavern hideholds and storage caches; El wants to not just destroy the death tyrants, he wants to fiddle with the magic to make them attack Zhents who show up at the…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
6) …bases they’re guarding). However, these real contacts have been waylaid by Zhents on the way, some slain and others sore wounded. If the PCs flee from their Harper/Zhent-collision battle encounter, they will literally stumble on these…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
7) …survivors, lying bleeding and helpless with the bone box (but able to talk, and desperate to get SOMEONE to complete their mission), somewhere in the forests.
Then build from there depending on how the PCs treat these survivors (i.e. do…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
8) …they try to take the bone box on to El? Or do something else?). The Zhents have many passive spies in all of the dales, so whatever the PCs do in Shadowdale (or any other dale, on the roads and farms as opposed to the wild surrounding…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
9)
…forest) will get reported to other Zhents. The Harpers, ditto (that is, spies and reporting). From then on, in play, various folk will think the PCs are Harpers or Zhents (or allies), and treat them accordingly.— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
10)
And when they DO reach Shadowdale, of COURSE El will have some abyssal lore…
Which should tie in, in some way, with your plots and tales they walked away from…
Heh. Hope this is of help. ;}— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
A pleasure! (And remember, any NPC from the PCs' past could well show up again here, as a paid spy/agent for the Harpers, or the Zhents, or a Dale ruler…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2018
First night has been a blast! My players and me had a lot of fun. At the Open Door Inn in Shadowdale countryside my four adventurers from Melvaunt+three harpers agents fought against four black cloaked Zhentarim. And won! Thank You! Sounds great! Swirling black cloaks in Shadowdale…yep, sounds like the Realms to me! :}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 19, 2018