How Do I Make This Interesting?

[Craig, Pati, Meagan, Jeff and Joe, I have no idea if you read these boards but if you do, shoo. You might play this one day, maybe. ]



I'm working on a section in my FR campaign right now that involves the PCs ferreting out a group of cultists in Highmoon without any outside help. The cultists aren't very low profile, they're just not appearing as cultists but worshipers of Denier. They'll have a prisoner to interrogate then they're to set out of Archendale to Highmoon to find the cultists, but Archendale doesn't want Highmoon knowing its sending agents into their towns to dispense Archendale justice, hence the secrecy.

Now the PCs know they're in the city somewhere, but how do I make it interesting and entertaining to actually find them? Especially since they can't work with the authorities so they don't have anyone directing them where to go. I'm looking for more than tracking them down and killing them in this situation, with some small combat encounters thrown in, then leading up to them finding the Cultist compound outside of the city, and adventure hooks leading to the next adventure. But that part I got figured out.

I'm just having trouble thinking of interesting ideas. And I've noticed urban adventures have tenancy to bog down since they're so free form. I also want a way to make the secrecy angle more interesting since they're going to be good/neutral but having to be low profile with the Highmoon guard.

If you have some story hour posts that are similar to this I'd love to read those for ideas

Keep the trail of clues relatively simple, unless you've got a party of folks who really like solving mysteries and making big leaps in logic. I normally find that the key to a fun RPG mystery game isn't the train of clues you need to follow, but how interesting the individual scenes that deliver the clues to you are

Make the cultists active. If they're doing something with a time limit in the city, it cuts down on the amount of dithering PC's can do. Time limits also mean that the characters will make quick decisions, and the catastrophis spectacle of what happens if they fail to track down the cult can ensure there's still a satisfying fight scene even if the aftermath isn't entirely positive.

Use the local law to your advantage: the PC's can't turn to the guard for help, but that doens't mean they can't compete with locals who are trying to track down the same cult for a different reason. A suspicious investigator who'se sure the PC's are up to no good can provide an interesting foil, since they'll have to give him the slip every time they need to advance the plot.

Make finding the bad guys easy, but getting to them hard. All they need to do is show up at the temple of Denier and figure out some way of eliminating a dozen respected priests without anyone noticing.

Fights in interesting locations and confrontations with opponents that can't automatically be resolved by fighting. Give the party some time to fence verbally with an opponent that they're trying to lure into a dark alley, or force them to come up with a plan that lets them knock an informer unconscious and remove him from the local library without attracting attention. Anything that causes a big scene in the city will attract the guard, which your players are probably trying to avoid.

Avoid encounters in taverns and inns. Unless that's the place that the cultists come to try and kill the party in their sleep

So I'm assuming the investigative work on the PC's part is to figure out that the cultists they're after are posing as Denier worshippers, which are quite easy to find.
Think of what it is these cultists are doing and what kind of impact/trail they would be leaving in the town.

So as an exercise, lets say the cultists are doing any/all of these things(this is just a guess at what evil cultists like to do so):
-Sacrificing people
-Summoning monsters
-Selling cursed/evil/illegal magic items on the black market
-Assassinating key local power players, leaving their mark at the crime scene
-Trading in slaves
-Kidnapping/killing locals that get in their way/find them out

Other more subtle things they could be doing(clues!):
-Buying/importing a large amount of a rare spice/compound/mineral, driving up prices
-Buying things with an odd/rare/unrecognized currency
-Hiring lots of bodyguards/evil adventurers

But why would cultists do all of this? Whats their end goal, other than being evil? Summoning a dead god/very powerful demon? Creating a new god ? Destroying the town? Slaying a minor god? Casting a ritualistic spell that has Bad_Effect_X ?

So grabbing a few of those, we can mash it together into a cult that is internally consistant and the PC's are then simply following clues that you drop for them.

Cultists are trying to _Forcibly Summon Shig Noggath, Lord Demon of the 885th layer of the Abyss_ , with a _Epic Ritualistic Spell_ requiring: _random # of virgin sacrifices_ ,each one which must be _drowned in enchanted oils infused with Salibith Roots_ . To accomplish this nefarious deed they are _Kidnapping local virgins_ , _Selling cursed/evil magic items on the black market_ for finances, _Buying/importing large quantities of Salibith Roots_, and _Supplanting the local police/constepolary force with people they've bribed into obedience_.
As a side effect of their evil magics, _Appropriate CR monsters_ have been attracted to the area and harassing the local countryside/town, ppl are scared to go out at night.

So when the PC's get into town, they can quickly learn several things that can get them on a path to finding out whats going on: _Appropriate CR monsters_ encounter at night, pc's learn is happening with regularity. NPC could ask them to find his missing daughter(who was kidnapped and sacrificed). A local merchant tries to hire them as bodyguards, claiming the local police force is corrupt and worthless as of late. The PC's stop a robbery or other crime where the assailents used _evil/cursed magic items(maybe dust of sneezing and choking_, can investigate where it came from. PC's find several businesses closing shop, sell goods to PC's at discount prices, explain they can't afford to hire any caravans to come in since they all are bringing in _Salibith Roots_ for the local Denier worshippers, who claim its required for their ceremonies( which a knowledge(religion) check could flag as false). Key is to lay out several hooks for the PC's to pick up, each of which could lead them to the cultists, and not restrict them to figuring out One Thing.

Sorry this is a bit long, I let my creativity take control a bit. Hope its the slightest bit helpful.