Side treks in a gnome village (my players stay out!)

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So it looks like I'll be a few players short for this weekend's game, so I'm considering running a side trek adventure instead of the main campaign arc (which is City of the Spider Queen).

At the end of the last session, the PCs -- who are deep in the Underdark, wandering about after a moderately successful assault on a drow outpost -- had just rescued a group of deep gnomes from a maur (an underdark giant), and been escorted to the secret svirfneblin settlement where they could rest.

I'm looking for ideas/sources for a one session (5-6 hour) adventure that would involve helping the gnomes out of some predicament. The PCs will get some information that will help them with the overall campaign, but I'm looking for some sort of task/side trek that will occupy the three members of the party who will be present (a gnome sorcerer, halfling bard, and halfling ranger/rogue, avaerage level 10). It should start and end in the gnome village (so we can pick up for the next session there with the full party). Mix of roleplay/investigation/exploration preferred with a combat encounter or two (but not too much, due to party composition).

Gnome backstory: the svirfneblin escaped the sack of Blingdenstone through a one-way portal, and found an out-of-the-way place to hole up and hide from the local denizens (drow, duergar, cloakers, the occasional maur, a group of marauding ogres, and a rumored dracolisk). They're living off of a nearby cave that hosts fungi and deep rothe, but the tribe is down to 30 members and dwindling, having had several members captured by ogres recently (and the party can't rescue the prisoners, since the PCs witnessed the prisoners getting eaten during a previous session).

Dazzle me with your brilliance and creativity, EN World!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Olgar considers setting the thread on fire to get more attention ...

 

[Nightfall]

Set the gnomes on fire.

Sorry Oglar. I'm not 100% fond of the underdark and Sferns(sp) aren't exactly my favorite type of gnome. (Dead ones. Now those are fun! )

Anyway, PCs have to find out where the gnomish children are vanishing too. They find out a local hag has taken an interest in them. (Pick you type.) So the PCs have to kill the hag, resuce the children oh and did I mention the hag already switch her soul with one of the kids?

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

Maybe a journey to find a wizard who could help the svirfnebli create more defenses for their village (or could create or knew of a portal to get them to a safer area where they could rebuild?) Or a hunt for some kind of holy artifact of the svirfnebli which could do something similar?

I know it's not great, but all I can come up with off the top of my head

Ellie

 

[Tessarael]

Why are their numbers dwindling? Is it only due to nearby threats? If it is due to the nearby threats, get the PCs to help them with some stone shaping, moving of boulders, etc., to make the place more defensible. Things that the gnomes can't do because they're not strong enough or lack the magic to do.

Maybe their numbers are also dwindling due to malnutrition. Do they have a good water source? Do they have enough food? Maybe the PCs could help divert a water source to help grow more fungi and provide for the rothe, and the group itself. That would involve exploring nearby tunnels, upstream somewhat, then blocking the stream, and diverting it through other tunnels. The party might have to deal with threats on the stream (denizens of the stream, others who use it) and tunnels. Some climbing and swimming might be in order, maybe a bit of tunneling too.