Help! I need a hook.

[Warrior Poet]

Variant: as part of that sense of betrayal, Ulrick and the humans have "relaxed" some of their tenets about how they treat the forest and the elves (they couldn't help us, well, maybe we don't have to help them so much, or play by the rules, etc.), and have started taking resources, or built a mill on a river that runs through the forest and it's now being polluted.

So, in addition to the tough diplomacy the party would have to deal with, there's tough counter diplomacy they have to manage (elf lord says, "Go try to make peace with the humans, but you must stop the mill!" or whatever).

Warrior Poet

 

[Berandor]

After the war against the orcs has ravaged the land, the elves fear that the humans might make the elves into scapegoats for their plight and desire the wood's ressources at the same time. In order to judge the people's opinion about elves (and maybe improve them at the same time), they send out small groups of travelers.