i need help with my plot/game

[WolfVonhinslik]

hi everyone, veteran GM but new to DnD (usuallu DM VTM, WoD, and my own RPGs) i am liking it alot, i personally refer to DM more then to play, i dono its just my thing... also sorry for my bad grammar

anyways i come here asking for a bit of help, sorry if this is in the wrong area or anything buy...

anyways my PC's (5 of them) the 1st dungeon i made them go through was mainly for me to get used to the combact system and scaling right, then the 1st was really big for me to test out puzzled and traps (we are playing 4th Ed) but now im starting a story arch, i made this really cool burning city and a temple of Vecna under then Tavern (thats also burning, that a sect of Ioun pallys raided and burned the city to the ground because of the temple if Vecna (also i wanted there to be corruption in the Sect of Ioun, plus its part of one of my pallys background) when they get to the bottom of temple there gonna run into a high priest of Vecna (after several hords of zombies and several human wizzards that im using there statline for Vecna summoners summoning the zombies) im gonna have (sorry if it offends anyone or seems adult or crude or anything, but my group are a bunch of adults and we like our game seroius and the more impact the better) but the pallys of ioun that raided the city i wanted to depict the sins of man and courruption of man by there are a few raped women that where killed afterwords and dead children among the corpses to depict the horrible things that where commited in this city, everyone is dead and the city is being burned to the ground, anywho now that the setting is set, when they reach the bottom of the temple there gonna run acrost a high priestess that rambles and yells at them calling herself the Teeth of Vecna that they wont be stopped, and the fluff behind this group is that 500-600 years ago this group was almost responsible for bringing the collapse of the mortal realm by summoning *Random really strong things* and they used to wright in a secret now dead language, there gonna be sent to a local man that researches dead civilisations and languages.

when they arrive there hes gonna be dead in his secret library with the entrance to it open, then they get down there there gonna find his corpse holding a ring and a torn paper(implying he rand down there to keep it safe and a book will be missing from the bookshelf, if im making any sense, basically when the assailant broke in he grabbed that book and tore the page out knowing that they where going to try to get that book, and wanted the info to remain safe and not in there hands (the teeth of Vecna) (that i made a probe fore, it looks really cool, looks like aged parchment) with a drawing of a cave in the forest, and 1 of the 3 moons in my world setting behind it, there gonna take this to someone els to get it translated and do a random quest for them in the mean time, then find out they can only access this cave 3X per month and have to use that ring to gain access

now that pretty much what i have so far... what i didnt think about when writing all this is my party as of right now is only lvl 2, will be lvl 3 shortly. by the time ther are done with all this tho they should be almost lvl 5. so im at a loss on what to do, heroic tier ther really should not be saving the world or anything, i was hoping to save that for paragon or something... as for maybe dragging it out until then, i dont wanna run out of ideas or how i would go about doing that for that long, i mean, thats alot of freakin games... any ideas on what i should do, or anything... any help I would appreciate.. and again, if my story offends sorry...

i think i got everything

Edit:
i almost forgot the sect of Ioun thats doing all this Is out pallys sect, when he was initiated into the sect he and 3 others where tasked to kill pallys and clerics of Vecna in a temple, but when they got there, there wat only unarmed priests, and his party was gonna kill them anyways, but he turned on them, killing them all, so now his order is hunting him to put it simply, so i wanted the sence of courruption in the Ioun Order

 

[bobhayes]

If he took the page out and is found dead with it, why didn't the assailant just take the page off his corpse?

You have a lot of good ideas but it sounds a little overwhelming for your players, with a lot of things that many groups would either not pick up on or would decide wasn't important. ("Never mind the plot details. Just tell me who I'm supposed to smash.")

I really like the corrupted order of Paladins. That player is going to have all kinds of "fun".

My suggestion is that the cave should prove to be kind of a dead end - the players will eventually save the world from the Teeth of Vecna, but as you note, not at 4th level. Instead, they should find some clues to an eventual Vecna-related mystery that will develop other the course of the campaign, but the actual threat in the cave area could be something more within their power level - maybe a 'last guardian' type of encounter, or you could tie it back into the corrupt Iounians by having a local corrupted paladin be using that as a base for his nefarious schemes...

Sounds like a fun game!

 

[WolfVonhinslik]

If he took the page out and is found dead with it, why didn't the assailant just take the page off his corpse?
Sounds like a fun game!

its gonna be hidden, the guys was more concerned with getting the book and not seeing a single page, the assailant wanted to destroy the information (it is Vecna after all)

but i might do that, i get REAL into my wrighting for RPG's and this time i went too big too fast, but i guess ill make the cave a dead end with a missing scroll, and nobody believe them about the whole scenario and have the page turn up missing

then go back to business as usual, and im thinking touching basis on it, libraries burnt, Ioun temples found and Raised by Orders of Ioun and at lvl 11-15 ish bring it back in all climactic like, then when there in epic (21+) have them fighting in different realms to stop it

 

[thejc]

Mentors are always great tool. Even if the PC's don't want them. So they go to this cave or to the cave and there is a big nasty beastie. Above their paygrade. They spar with it realize it's out of their league. Just as all hope is lost the calvary shows up. Uncorrupted Paladins, Corrupted ones. Government agents. Worshippers of Vecna(unbeknownst to the pc's). Awesome Arch Mage. Hero of Yore ect ect ect.

So he/she/they save the pc's butt and employ them to do some other tasks. You keep the arc going, and now it makes sense. Maybe the Mentor/Employers need something else once in the cave and send off the PC's on quest after quest for a bit until they can either be removed, found out, killed off ect ect.

Hope this helps!