[3.5e] Suggetions for Plot involving Old God

[hunterofjello]

Right now I'm trying to develop a plot that has already begun involving an Old God trapped inside a dagger that has cursed one of the PCs. The curse is a Quest/Geas compelling the Monk to sacrifice 2 humanoids to it per day or die slowly. The PCs know that if they continue to sacrifice humanoids, the Old God will eventually be released unto the world. Right now the PCs are interested in finding a way to remove the curse.

Any suggetions you guys can give towards the plot or fun/interesting things to incorporate into this campaign would be awesome.

So far I've been planning on setting up a friend NPC to tell the PCs a location where they might be able to find a powerful enough Cleric or being to remove the curse. Then, I was going to add in obstactles for the group to overcome to get to that location.

So far I've considered:
-A rich noble employing mercaneries and/or bounty hunters to obtain the dagger
-An order of zealous paladins who sense the evil of the dagger and attempt to kill the entire group because of it
-A cult who worship an evil deity who have an interest in making sure the Old God isn't released and either help or hurt the group (maybe even a split in the organization?)
-A group of neutral mages who may somehow be involved for the mining operations in that mountain to begin with

and
-the normal bandits, wild animals, and obstacles that always get in the way of adventurers and their goal

The campaign is a traditional D&D setting and the players are around level 4. The party consists of a Sorc, Monk, Rogue, Cleric of Pelor and Fighter. THe PCs are mostly CG with the monk LN and the rogue CN.


What do you guys think of what I have so far? What do you think are cool, interesting, or fun ways I could improve the plot and/ or presentation? And do you have any suggestion about any of the concepts here at all?

[aco175]

My first thoughts involve the portfolio of the old god and if and new gods have taken portions of it. He in the dagger may be compelling the monk to work to the goal of weakening the new god or gather portions of the old one.

I am also thinking of the book/movie DaVinci Code where the church is fractioned into parts trying to find the truth, keep order, squash the problem, etc... This could tie in with the paladin group seeking out the party.

There is always a righ person trying to use the artifact to become powerful in thinking that he can control the devise. This could be a noble, merchant, wizard, cleric, really anyone. A merchant could be trying to get it for somone who wants to be unknown and could become the overall bad guy after the party gains a few levels.