Okay, brain wave. Three way plot. The goblins are sent to kidnap the princess during Halloween festivities. On the same night, a third party plans to assault the city. I'm not sure if that should be barbarians, drow, or an army of the undead and demons. Somehow the PC monsters - who have a chaotic but not particularly nefarious plan - end up thwarting the far more villainous plot of the invading army.
So who are the other big bad guys? What are they up to? Maybe I could go for a new year's theme, kidnapping the first newborn of the new year. Or assassinating the king, and use his blood to summon a goddess of death and time, who will reap the new year. The goblins just want to kidnap the princess because their king thinks she'd make a good bride -- and what young lady wouldn't love to marry David Bowie?
Now I just need some scenes.
1. The goblin king gives them their orders. A foreign king and queen are visiting the city of Gate Pass on New Year's Eve to have their daughter blessed before her marriage. But the princess is in love with the goblin king, and he wants his minions to rescue her. The king sends along his apprentice to corral the group. The apprentice - is secretly working with the third group, the invaders.
A ritual is planned to summon the avatar of a god, and at the chime of midnight, whatever holy symbol happens to be sitting in the center of the ritual circle, that god will be summoned. The royal family wants a life goddess to bless their daughter. The invaders want to invoke the god of time to harvest the dying year and grant them power. And I'll encourage the PCs to pick some interesting deities of their own.
2. The first order of business is to sneak into the city through the sewers. I think they should run into a group of invaders who are also in the sewers. The two groups are headed to the same spot, a costume shop. The new year's festival involves a masquerade, so costumes let them blend in. The invaders don't want a fight, so they just ask for directions to another costume shop.
When the PCs get to the costume warehouse, some famous local adventurers are escorting a group of orphans to get their costumes, and the PCs have to keep anyone from getting away. The fighting might spill out into the streets where parades are going on. I need some challenges here, and something funny.
3. Next step is to sneak into the guest palace for the New Year's Eve party. Roleplaying fun if they try to go in the front door in costume, or skill challenge stuff if they want to scale the walls, or pretend to be workers bringing in foodstuffs. The ultimate goal is to abduct the princess, and I'll give them free reign in the 'how to.' But I have a few ideas in mind.
The goblin king's apprentice has a poison he intends to slip into the cheese fondue, which will knock out the whole party, so they head to the kitchen and royal pantry. Along the way they might cross paths with folks dressed all in black, carrying dead guard bodies. These are more invaders, who ask as a professional courtesy that the PCs not alert the palace guards. Maybe that works, or it doesn't.
4. In the pantry, they'll have to deal with the royal taste tester, a gnomish quesomancer, who sniffs them out and sics cheese elementals and other food-themed foes on them. If successful, the fondue gets rolled out just before midnight, right as the ritual is coming to a head.
5. People love the cheese, but then start to fall unconscious. The ritual is gaining power, and that's when the invaders attack. "Kill everyone," their leader shouts, which includes the princess and the PCs. The invader priest stands in the center of the ritual circle, kicks away the statuette of the life goddess, and holds up his totem of the death god.
Hopefully the PCs will act to save the princess and themselves, fight the invaders, and maybe summon their own god (or something silly, like invoking the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man). The human king commends their heroism.
Or, y'know, they could totally attack the king too, and kill everyone, or team up with the invaders. In which case, the apprentice betrays them, and David Bowie shows up to rally his troops. I could use some nice David Bowie and Labyrinth references.
How does that sound?
