Story-Arc Problem that I need some help with...Please Help

[chrisnd]

After a few weeks of being here on EnWorld, I have really come to appreciate the incredible amounts of insight and comraderie that the members here share. As a result, I have decided to ask the members for help on meshing together a story arc that I am having problems with.

First, the scenario. The campaign has just started, and the group cleared out a mine that had an underground river. The river had been spoiled, which led to a spoiling of the town water supply. Unbeknownst to the players, the mine was actually a mine of a very precious metal used by the gods to forge weapons and other metal items of great power and strength. The miners jobs were to excavate the metal, and send it south in boats to where the gods awaited the arrive of the mineral. Payment would then be sent back to the village. The party soon realizes that payment has not been received for the last three shipments (caravan waylayed?) and are asked by the head "bookkeeper" of the mining operations to look into the matter.

This is where I am having my problem. The next step in the natural progression is to send the party south to find the problems of the missing shipments and the lack of payment. The journey south will take about 2 weeks by foot (which is how they will have to get there since all the horses in town drank the bad water before anyone knew it was bad). However, they aren't quite powerful enough to take on the "hijackers" that they will eventually meet up with. Here is my dilemna, and I am hoping that this community can give me a little insight:

Do I:
1.) Reduce the power of the "pirates" that hijacked the ships so that the party can face them on equal footing
2.) Throw in various woodlands random encounters to get their experience up as they travel south in search of the "pirates"
3.) Have them encounter a village on the way down that needs help rescuing a captured citizen from the local ogre tribe that kidnapped him?

I am thinking that #3 may be my best option, but they just did a "clear the dungeon" quest and I hate to have them do another one (although they seemed to enjoy the first one, and know that I am a "dungeoning" type of DM). The other problem is, how do I manage to insert this particular "quest" into the big story? Or do I just leave it as a stand alone encounter that the party came upon by happenstance? A "red herring" so to speak? Would it be cliche to make the kidnapped victim the PC of a player who may actually join our group?

If anyone wants more information from me related to where the rest of the story leads (if that would improve or modify one's suggestions or advice), let me know and I can share more of the campaign details.

Regardless, I really like what people around here say, and the suggestions and ideas that people come up with are incredibly creative.

Thanks in advance.

 

[the Jester]

Well, in my experience, the best big epic game arcs have interruptions of apparently-mundane other adventures in the middle. I'd go with this option; instead of a side trip to some ogre warrens, maybe have them get involved in something different that will tie them tighter to the little village. Maybe the inn they sleep in is burned down in the night and they have to help everyone escape; and then there's evidence that it's arson, and one of the (suspicious against outsiders) townsfolk accuses them, and they have to clear their name....

Does this tie into the big plot arc? No- but later, if it seems to fit into the puzzle, maybe it will...

 

[Sandain]

Are the Gods the only beings able to work this metal? Who is paying the Hijackers? They wont risk thier lives stealing something thats of no use or value to them.

Can your party get help from the local militia? its an important town matter and a legal problem. Id send a sergeant with them just to make sure the PC's didnt steal the metal/payment for themselves.

You could use the latter half of the U1 module and have them find the hijackers ship and stealthily invade it, picking off the crew one by one.

They could join the Hijackers, maybe the've lost a few men and the low level adventurers have no reputation of heroes yet?

To prove thier worth they can raid a caravan and steal some metal, but the town will be in on it and noone will get hurt beyond a few bruises.

Then as soon as the PC's share a watch - they slit all the hijackers throats and return all the metal and money to the town.

 

[LostSoul]

I'd go with something like option #3. It doesn't have to be a dungeon crawl; you could have the PCs chase after some druid who was running around the woods causing havoc. Or something like that. It might be interesting to introduce something that is directly related to one or more of the PCs and play with that for a session.

A question: if the gods want this precious material, is there something more sinister behind the pirates who have been waylaying the caravans? I'd figure that the gods would want to make sure that this material is looked after. Something to think about.

Me, I'd have it be the first link in some typical fantasy story about this evil wizard who is trying to take over the world. He is going to use this material to render the gods impotent and then kill them all! Ha ha ha hahaha HA!

edit: if I were going to do that, I wouldn't wait for the PCs to stop the big bad evil guy. I'd have him work his mojo early on and then the PCs can take him down after that.

 

[Ashy]

All of the (non-quoted) suggestions above are very good and you should definitely think about them as you move ahead. In regards to your specific quandry, I would go with something like LostSoul suggested:

It might be interesting to introduce something that is directly related to one or more of the PCs and play with that for a session.

Or, it might be a neat idea eventually lead them to the pirates anyway. For example, your characters are heading south, correct? Well, surely there is a large port town in the south if there are pirates. Perhaps a cleric of a mountain abbey hears of the PC's exploits and hires them to take a "wagon-train" of food, supplies, and herbal medicines to the port town, which is rife with disease, hunger and poverty (as some port towns are known to be). What is unknown to the cleric or the party is that within the sacks of herbs there are scores of angry twig blites that are seeking revenge on the harvesters. Perhaps there are no twig blights, but they are instead tiny wooden constructs, crafted by an insane druid who seeks revenge on the "civilized lands to the south". Or.....

So on and so forth....

Basically, with a little creative thought and some pre-planning there is no need to detract from the mission in the south - let the next adventure literally take them there!

Hope this helps!

 

[Someone]

I´ll throw option #4: let them reach the pirates and have their asses kicked hard. Use this option only if you know your players won´t fight to the death; and anyway the PCs don´t have to die (the bad guyss just leave them bleeding or laugh as they run, or whatever) Then you just throw a couple of rumours of how they can weaken the pirates, and after an adventure or two they come back and have their revenge.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I agree with Someone. I'd provide opportunity for the PCs to increase in power along the way, but I wouldn't require it.

During the battle with the pirates, let the dice fall where they may. Some of the most interesting plots in my campaign world occured when the PCs failed at a task. Designing your campaign around the assumption that the PCs will succeed at everything they try is presumptious at best.

On the other hand, this is a game, and it's meant to be fun. Ruthlessly slaughtering the party isn't much fun, but having the pirates leave the PCs unconscious on a burning ship, while they sail away laughing, can lead into an interesting under-sea adventure arc as well as setting up some Bad Guys for later.

 

[chrisnd]

Hey everyone, this is AWESOME. Thanks for the help, and I will definitely be using a lot of the suggestions that you guys made. I think that I was just suffering from "writers block" and just couldn't figure out how to get things to work.

And, since two people asked about the precious metal and why the gods want it so badly, I will tell more of the story:

There was once a god (we will call him "T") whom all the other gods feared so much (due to his absolute depravity and madness) that they locked him in a prison and left him in stasis. This prison was crafted with the precious metal that was mined in this same village many, many millenia ago. One of the worshippers of this mad god was once a mortal being that yearned for godhood, too (we shall call him "A"). To make "A's" apotheosis work, though, he needed the same material that the gods used to created the prison for "T" (which "A" never realized until his "T" told him what he needed). In the meantime, "T" partially escaped from his prison due to a cataclysmic event accidentally caused by a group of unrelated "birgands" who had no idea what havoc they had wrought when they inadvertantly stole an ancient and powerful artifact.

So, the gods need to reforge the prison to recapture "T", (thus they need the mineral) and "A" needs finish his apotheosis (thus he needs the mineral, too). In fact, if "A's" apoteosis is completed, then "T" will be set free entirely (which is really, really bad...). And of course "T" realizes that if the other gods get a hold of the mineral, then both he and "A" are doomed. Both "T" and "A" are ultimately responsible for 1.) poisoning the water supply and shutting down the mines in the village, and 2.) hiring the pirates to waylay the mineral shipments. They also have other, sinister "leuitenants" doing various other naughty deeds on their behalf, including the rebuilding of their old temple that has been destroyed no less than three times in the past (see, I told you that "T" was highly despised).

Now, after all of this, I hope that all of you can understand why my dilemna (conundrum) exists, and why I asked for help. The party is one their way to investigate the pirates, and find out where the mineral is and why it was stolen. I somehow need to fit in my original option #3 with the story as a whole, and everyone has done a great job with suggestions. Of course, more of them are highly appreciated.

 

[Ashy]

chrisnd, please let us know how it goes! Maybe even start a Story Hour!

 

[chrisnd]

I am not familiar with the "Story Hour" or how it works (although I may have to check into it based on your suggestion), but I do have my own website where I have posted the summary of the story so far:

www.geocities.com/chrisnd93

anyone that wants to check it out, and keep updated, please feel free. In the meantime, I will check into "Story Hour"

Thanks!