I Want a "mini delve" for Shelter. Ideas?

[UnknownAtThisTime]

Potential spoilers and all that ... I am just looking for ideas or out of the box thinking below:


For reasons both meta and in game (my party is just a tad short on XP)* we could use a nice tight delve that takes place just as the heroes are leaving the swamp, before entering Seaquen.

They've met the witches, grabbed Katrina, and dispatched with the Ragesian Scouts and are just about to get on dry land for the short walk to Seaquen. I think they have to still get approached by the Shalahesti patrol. I will also note that they never grabbed Tiljinn, Haddin died (while trying to betray them, and Torrent got split up from them before the fire forest and is supposed to catch up and meet them at Lyceum later.

Here is some meta stuff: I have a brain in jar mini (and a couple cronies for him) that the players will get a kick out of, and I was thinking of constructing 2 or 3 encounters that they might stumple upon if they are on the look out as they leave the swamp. Perhaps they uncover a crumbling watchtower on the swamp's edge, and find the brain, who has apparently destroyed the former mage of Lyceum that created it. Or maybe it is the recent work of a rogue inquisitor gone bad.

Anyone have other story ideas to put a short delve in this spot that still ties nicely with the continuing plot?



* In game side note, FWIW: If one idea of the fire forest is that it is NOT a pleasant place to be, the crew got that message loud and clear. They did NOT want to be there any longer than needed, and ran through a few fire curtains to get the heck out. I mention this because the party is somewhat focused. They don't care to put out the fire (although they have a good grasp of how it got started) and I like that they had the chance to make a significant choice rather than be forced to derail their focus with trips up and down a river.

 

[OnlineDM]

I have a few thoughts. First, why bother with the extra encounter? I long ago abandoned tracking XP encounter by encounter, and I just level the party when I feel it's appropriate to do so.

But assuming that you feel strongly that the party needs to earn their levels, I have two ideas from my own running of Shelter, though both of them came up for me AFTER the party had gotten to Seaquen.

The first, described here, involved an expansion of Tiljann's side quest to find out what happened to Etinifi the bard. I believe the adventure as written contains an encounter with some biomantic beasties (squid, crab, mer-man), which I modified and used. However, it's said that Etinifi was looking for some magic fountain in the undersea temple, so I added a room with that fountain... as well as with a dragon and some drakes. That ended up being an awesome encounter.

Now, I know that you said the party did not pick up Tiljann, but you could still have someone come to them to ask if they would be willing to investigate what happened to Etinifi.

The other side quest I ran was described here, and it involved Laurabec and the pantheistic temple. I decided that Laurabec would be searching for a suitable building to use for her temple, rather than constructing one from scratch, so I had her ask the adventurers to clear out some undead creatures from an old temple near the ruins. I used this as a one-shot for our potential new party member to "audition," and it worked out just fine.

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

I have a few thoughts. First, why bother with the extra encounter? I long ago abandoned tracking XP encounter by encounter, and I just level the party when I feel it's appropriate to do so.

Sacrilege! Just kidding, but we do it mostly because it is enjoyable to the players to track XP. I don't mind working within this "constraint".

The first, described here, involved an expansion of Tiljann's side quest to find out what happened to Etinifi the bard.

<...>

The other side quest I ran was described here, and it involved Laurabec and the pantheistic temple.

Thanks for th ethoughts. I like the Laurebec angle. Another idea I had was giving them a glimpse of a pyramid before they even get to Seaquen. Foreshadowing on top of foreshadowing if i play my cards right.

 

[liggetar]

Brain in a jar screams biomancy to me

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

Brain in a jar screams biomancy to me

Right, so there it is. The brain in the jar is one of 's Paradim's alterations gone wrong. I'll leave some clues perhaps to tie them together, but not too many.

Encounter I of the mini delve will be some biomancic creatures on the upper level of some ruins they have recently occupied, Encounter II will be further in the ruins with the brain, my other creatures, and perhaps some clues to Paradim.