D&D 5E Adventure ideas wanted (L4-7ish)

[Gilladian]

First of all, how do they intend to rebuild the castle? How long do they imagine it will take? I believe a keep costs 25,000 gold to build and usually depends on taxation of the locals to fund it. Are they going to adventure their way to the gold? How do they convince the engineers and stone masons to pass through the Neverwinter Wood (a fey, haunted place in the minds of most people) where people KNOW there are goblins/hobgoblins/bugbears/ogres on top of ego-centric race supremacist elves that DO NOT WANT outsiders in their forest? Also, why are they rebuilding a castle in the middle of the woods with no road to/from? How will they recruit the necessary people to help run the castle and the surroundings?

My suggestion is to transition them to Princes of the Apocalypse and have them come back to find that the elves have taken their stronghold as their own.

This is my own world, so none of FR questions apply. They'll fund the rebuild thru adventuring; that's sort of the point. They'll hire from inside the kingdom, and recruit where they can. The dwarf may get some of his kinsmen, and they can also try to get the Woodsfolk on their side. The expense will be "all the loose change they have, and then some".

I don't want their choices to be railroaded into meaninglessness. The players knew that they were choosing options that would shape the rest of the campaign, and they selected wilderness survival and castle building over caravan escort and civilized land adventuring. So that's what they'll get. Later, I foresee a choice between baronial politics and ruin-hunting. We will see what they opt for, then!