I think the best way to go about is to make the artifact the orcs have important to the big goal.
1) Perhaps its a scrying device, allowing the players to see what happened to the academy, who destroyed it, or where they have to go to get back.
2) Maybe the artifact can teleport the party back to their land, close to it, or at least a big jump in the direction there.
3) Its a divination device, able to answer several of the party's questions about where they are, where they have to go etc.
I echo what most of the others have said, your adventure looks fine, but the hook is a problem. The golden rule of dming: "The party will never do what you expect them to do." However, if you make the hook important to their main goals, its much more likely to work.
However!! Be very prepared for the party to just denouse the hook off hand and go somewhere else. It happens. It doesn't mean your whole adventure is ruined, it just might mean you get to use it at a later time. So your going to want a backup plan, even if that plan is just a few random encounters to kill some time while you think of something else to do (this is especially true if your a new dm).
1) Perhaps its a scrying device, allowing the players to see what happened to the academy, who destroyed it, or where they have to go to get back.
2) Maybe the artifact can teleport the party back to their land, close to it, or at least a big jump in the direction there.
3) Its a divination device, able to answer several of the party's questions about where they are, where they have to go etc.
I echo what most of the others have said, your adventure looks fine, but the hook is a problem. The golden rule of dming: "The party will never do what you expect them to do." However, if you make the hook important to their main goals, its much more likely to work.
However!! Be very prepared for the party to just denouse the hook off hand and go somewhere else. It happens. It doesn't mean your whole adventure is ruined, it just might mean you get to use it at a later time. So your going to want a backup plan, even if that plan is just a few random encounters to kill some time while you think of something else to do (this is especially true if your a new dm).