Help! Need a homebrew chapter in Tyranny Of Dragons

[ungooglable]

I'm running Tyranny Of Dragons, without xp count. PCs complete a chapter, PCs gain a level up. Except they don't complete the chapter and barely get out the Dragon Hatchery.

The setting is Forgotten Realms.

They were supposed to spy on cultists' camp (Cult Of the Dragon), to find the camp abandoned, besides some cave, then they were supposed to go into that cave and find out something about the Cult, first and foremost where the Hoard of the Dragon Queen is being transported. But alarm went off, and PCs barely got out (lied their way out with lucky deception)...


- without level up

- without any idea where the cultists are now, and where are they going

- without any special merits and honors in the eyes of the Harpers (that means without a veritable pretext to trust them with important mission, wich is exactly what happens in the next chapter of the campaign scenario)

***


I believe I need a homebrew chapter on their way to the next 'official' one. Which is Beregost town.

Maybe including some Cult's ambassadors to some far potential allies (Zhents, Red Wizards, you name it)....

Anyway, it should provide an experience, so I can level up them. And ideally give them some knowledge about cult's plans. Direction....

Also I believe the chapter needs 2 'issues'. One of them must be unrelated to the cult, because my campaign feels like overdoing it...

The party consist of:
- an infamous elven ranger (who killed Langdedrosa, the cult's champion in chapter one, but lost a hostage in the process), chaotic good
- a dragonborn paladin in Langdedrosa's armor, she seeks someone to explain her Tiamat-themed nightmares, neutral good
- and an elven wizard who seeks his lost relative, Talis Kasterel (suspecting that she's wit the cult now), chaotic neutral, a cynic

They also need to identify a couple of magic items or even better to get a pearl for their wizard (Identify spell material)

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I appreciate any help and ideas. Like structure, villains, opportunities, encounters

 

[JohnnFour]

Oof. That's tricky adventure design, alas. The module should've accounted for the Avoid option of the 5 Actions.

I suggest making a 5 Room Dungeon that further cements the cult as #1 villain and engenders desire in PCs to see the cultists defeated.

Perhaps the PCs can try to save someone from the cultists? Perhaps a special prisoner captured and now being interrogated in Room IV.

 

[ungooglable]

Perhaps the PCs can try to save someone from the cultists? Perhaps a special prisoner captured and now being interrogated in Room IV.

There's not many people PCs are attached, and they are all left behind.
... perhaps it could be something, mot someone.... I'll look closely at their bonds and flaws

a 5 Room Dungeon that further cements the cult as #1 villain

Or even better a 5rd seemingly unrelated to the cult, where room III makes a twist discovering the cultists


Again the chapter before the one they 'failed' was all about rescuing VIP. So it will feel repetitive


Hm.... the PCs acquired some cultists' guise: masks, capes, purple armor on their dragonborn paladin and some highly decorated arms with dragon motifs. Maybe cult encounters should be role-playing ones (by default, you'll never know what it becomes)


Anyway social adventures are nice, after they spent several chapters waging a local war...
What could pose a social threat in Beregost?

and how could it be a 5RD?
And should it be a 5RD?

 

[ungooglable]

Maybe a charlatan and some thiefs could relieve them of their hard-won magic items (instead of identifying). And then leave an easy trail to the cultists.
Why on earth the trail would be easy to follow?!

Like the thiefs tried to sell the goods to the cultists,. Which pose as a traveling merchant and company. But the moment cultists saw the goods they recognized them as the cult's possessions and captured the thieves.
And then PCs could encounter them unexpectedly...

 

[ungooglable]

The problem with this, it doesn't make the cultists villains. Vice versa theyvare victims in this story....

What could I add to make them villains? Better stillnto make things personal for PCs, for players to desire to fight the cult?

 

[ExileInParadise]

The problem with this, it doesn't make the cultists villains. Vice versa theyvare victims in this story....

What could I add to make them villains? Better stillnto make things personal for PCs, for players to desire to fight the cult?

Is there something or someone from one of the characters' backgrounds that these cultists could interfere with?
An item taken or a person kidnapped for cultish reasons which happen to also intersect a player's character backstory?

 

[ungooglable]

Not much. The campaign scenario has a special bonds to choose from, but the only relevant here is that elven wizard's niece, whom he's very much fond of. She is actually Talis the White, an ambitious functioner of the Cult of Dragon (only 2 steps down from the very apex of the cult)

The other two are:

• dragonborn's nightmares (straight from Tiamat)
• and the fact that a ranger was once attacked bybdragon cultists vecause hisbgrandpa was a famous dragon slayer.

Not much...

By the way, my wife painted a picture of young Talis, with the same face as the official portrait of Talis The White.




The player have seen yet only the former portrait

 

[ungooglable]

Is there something or someone from one of the characters' backgrounds that these cultists could interfere with?
An item taken or a person kidnapped for cultish reasons which happen to also intersect a player's character backstory?

By the way... Dragonborn kind of hate the dragons. At least the majoritybof the Dragonborns on Toril hate dragons' authorities

But I'm not sure the player knows and remembers that...


On the other hand, the cultists may be an ambassadors to a dragonborn country far in the east, and their mission went totally unsuccessful. The PCs and the players may learn about it and about dragonborns' fate on their homeworld to get a better picture of potential Tiamat's rule.

But this is far from anything personal still....