How do I get the PCs from here to there?

[Infinite Monkey@Work]

I have a problem in that I can't figure out how to get my PCs from their current situation into the next part of the campaign story.

In my campaign, most of the planet is covered by a vast evil swamp. Anyone that spends too muchg time in the swamp without proper protection gets mutated (like the Rokugan Shadowlands). The characters are currently clearing out a castle, which used to belong to the family of one of the characters, but is now owned (without their knowledge) by the campaigns bug bad guy.

The only race that lives in the swamps without being affected by the Taint is the elves. They can do this because each elven village is built around a vast celestial Treant that protects the village from the taint and from evil creatures just by its presence. This fact is only known to the most senior of the elven elders, so the PC elf doen't know this (although they do know that the elves are the onyl ones that can live in the swamps).

The elf PC was given a prophesy when she was born, something about saving her people. My current plan is that her elven village has been destroyed by Kambranex (from a Dungeon adventure). I want them to visit an elven village seeking help in making their castle safe from the taint and be told that if they save the elven village with no thought of their own reward (or something like that), the elven elder will tell them the secret that guards the villages. They can then go back to the destroyed village and get the treant to leave to destroyed village, along with the few survivors, and travel to their castle to guard it instead.

What I can't figure out is how to get the characters to visit an elven village in the first place. My players are somewhat dim when it comes to figuring out world details like this, and I don't want to outright tell them to go visit an elven village for help unless I can't avoid it. The other problem is giving them a reason to feel that their castle isn't protected from the swamp. If I just attack them lots,they will fight lots and evetually die. Perhaps I could make their current protections fail faster than expected, so they will start to get tainted by the swamps.

Any thoughts?

 

[ptrpete]

Maybe their items could tarnish as a first stage of being corrupted by the swamp. Or some other minor/easy to get rid of thing that they will recognise as the first stage of the taint. Maybe their protection are only just holding out, so reversable side effects get through.

Hopefuly they will think "Hey, this didn't happen when we weren't in the swamp. And it didn't happen while we were in that elven village picking up the elven PC. So we could go to either of those two places for advice". Leaving the swamp wastes a bit of time, but going to another elven village will get them the help they need.

 

[Infinite Monkey@Work]

Good idea about the items tarnishing. Unfortunately, they haven't ever visited an elven village.

There is a bunch of soldiers with them, and I could have one of them tell the PCs about when their dad visited an elven village and all his taint-mutations disappeared or something, but I have already used the soldiers to give them hints several times, and I don't want them to become any more of a Deus Ex Machina than they already are.

 

[ptrpete]

But surely the elven PC has been to an elven village? When he was being brought up during the first eighty or so years of his life. Okay, maybe he was born and raised in the human towns, never visited "the homelands" or whatever. That would be annoying.

Okay, they know that elven villages are immune to the taint. So maybe something more serious, but still non-lethal is required. Like no naturaly healing hitpoints or not being able to cast as many spells or something. Then they must wonder "how do the elves survive this?". Have it happen to the elven PC as well, so they can see its not a genetic thing. The logical next step is to visit an elven town asking for advice.

If they don't get that, the backup plan is to have them visit the elven village for another reason. They notice "hey, I've started healing again! and the weapons don't tarnish. And I can cast my normal allotment of spells again! Gotta get me some of this". Then they solve whatever situation got then to the village, but (hopefuly) remember about going back to pick up the anti-taint stuff, get back to the main plot and so on.

Don't use the soldiers to get them out of this one. Instead have the soldiers complain to them about the weapons degrading, needing a cleric just to heal light bruises from training, permanent hangovers (remember, no natural healing, and I doubt the cleric has that many cure poisons), and so on. Give the players an incentive to get properly protected.