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View Full Version : DM Help The red herring is getting out of hand



Jay R
2014-06-10, 06:00 PM
I have a situation in my game, and I don’t know if I should fix it or not.

The party is trying to prevent the Death Lord from entering their world. They have dealt with two different plot threads, and have invented a connection between them that is simply not there.

There was an extremely powerful feel of Evil pervading the land they grew up in – enough to make an entire forest feel cursed. The party eventually found the source of the evil they felt, and destroyed it. They were quite proud of themselves until they discovered the truth. There were a set of three amulets made the last time this occurred that helped to keep the Death Lord out. Because they are connected to his Evil realm, they radiate evil, just as an oven door feels hot, even though it isn’t the source of the heat.

Totally apart from that, there was a portal that the minions of the Death Lord were trying to open. This was based on the Keep on the Shadowfell module, and I used those maps. One of the maps shows four white crystal pillars that were shining a mystical blue-green, and the fourth is shown on the map as broken. The party has defeated the Death Lord’s minions and kept them from opening that portal.

The problem (if it is one) is that when they saw the one broken pillar, they instantly decided that the pillars were connected to the amulets. They have even convinced themselves that they were told there are three amulets left, rather than three to start with. So they are absolutely convinced that these pillars are important clues for them. In fact, they are merely crystal pillars that glow. I described the pillars only because they happen to appear on the map I was using.

Ideally, I would make their suspicions true, and use that to form new adventures, but that's not possible. The other two amulets are in different parts of the world, away from their influence. I was about to drop the Death Lord plotline for awhile. The party, however, has picked it up, and are looking for more clues, of which there are none anywhere on this continent.

Is this a problem? Should I let them follow their red herring, or try to let them know that these pillars are meaningless?

Sith_Happens
2014-06-10, 06:31 PM
Why does the amulets' being far away have to mean they aren't connected to the pillars?

Airk
2014-06-10, 09:02 PM
And why do the amulets HAVE to be far away?

Alternatively, you could just tell them "Guys, no, you're remembering wrong, there are three amulets TOTAL, not left."

Slipperychicken
2014-06-10, 10:18 PM
In fact, they are merely crystal pillars that glow.

Really? Giant glowing crystal pillars with no significance whatsoever? Who wrote that?

Erik Vale
2014-06-10, 10:25 PM
Yea, that pillar thing is definitely a fail on someones part.

And the players can happily remember wrong, have some sage whose a expert on the subject tell them there's only 3 total after they've spent a little while looking for four, enjoy the faces.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2014-06-10, 10:46 PM
Why CAN'T you run with it? What would be the logical conclusions if one assumed that there were 4 amulets made, one was broken, but you didn't need all 4 to summon the Death Lord for some reason. Maybe the Death Lords power was tied to how many amulets there are, such that if only one is left then when he appears he's a weak but cunning foe that disappears into the shadows to run their enemies from the shadows.

If the other amulets are too far away, then I would say either a) add extra not-that-complicated missions to find them, or b) move them to the same continent.

Or yeah, just correct them to say that there are 3 total.

And then come up with some EXTRA plot-point for why the 4th pillar is broken. Maybe there are 4 sites with the pillars, and they are the only places where summonings like that can happen, but the servants have to break a pillar at the site to corrupt it for their summoning.

QuidEst
2014-06-10, 11:47 PM
Eh, roll with it. I'm liking their version. The transition to including useful clues for it intentionally will be a little difficult, but you can do it. Eventually, have a broken amulet turn up. There's tons of cool stuff you can do with that.

veti
2014-06-11, 12:00 AM
Sometimes a mystical glowing pillar is just a mystical glowing pillar... I'd be against retconning it to be significant just because the players think it is. There is such a thing as coincidence, after all - I think it ultimately trivialises the world if everything ties together neatly into one overarching plot.

Then the problem is, how to signal to the players that they're wasting their time. Let them make a knowledge roll, or otherwise come across some old magical tome about opening portals that mentions the glowing pillars. Optionally it could mention this specific site, with an account of how one of the pillars got broken.

For bonus irritation value, I like to include an imprint logo on books like that - a deep crimson fish. Appropriate knowledge check to recognise it as a herring.

Dorian Gray
2014-06-11, 12:10 AM
What plotline are you working with currently? Why do you want to have them ignore what seems to be the ongoing myth arc? Answers to these questions would be extremely helpful.

If I were you, I would have the next BBEG be investigating the amulets/pillars. Have him try to drain power from the prison where the dark god/eldritch abomination/whatever is kept- one of the amulets was destroyed, so now only 3 of the 4 seals remain! The Death Lord's power is seeping through! No wonder the world is so grimdarkdepressingevil!

Seriously, your campaign will go better if you adapt. Why do the amulets need to be somewhere else anyway? Adapt a bit! Not that it doesn't seem like you're doing a good job- your players are getting engaged in the campaign, so whatever you're doing, you're doing it right.

Erik Vale
2014-06-11, 12:20 AM
For bonus irritation value, I like to include an imprint logo on books like that - a deep crimson fish. Appropriate knowledge check to recognise it as a herring.

Hah... They'll probably find it funny the first few times.

Averis Vol
2014-06-11, 02:57 AM
I'm gonna be devils advocate here and say you don't need to change your story simply because your party dumbly believed in a coincidence, and even changed their knowledge because it "fit". Let them run with it for a bit, and once they hit a point where they realize the GLARING FLAW with their plan, bask in the look of utter disappointment in themselves when they notice how much time they've wasted.

In my experience, they will probably get a bit disheartened by that, then you can place whatever other hook you want and they will most likely pick it up for a while, until an actual lead comes up for the amulets.

This strategy works a lot better with a group that isn't easily offended, so if you have temperamental players, maybe just ditch all the work you did previously and bend to their lack luster attempts at coherently following a plot. (Tongue in cheek completely intended)

nedz
2014-06-11, 03:03 AM
Use another red herring to flush out the first one — Create five faked amulets. When they have 8 amulets only then will they will be happy.

HighWater
2014-06-11, 03:32 AM
I have a situation in my game, and I don’t know if I should fix it or not.

The party is trying to prevent the Death Lord from entering their world. They have dealt with two different plot threads, and have invented a connection between them that is simply not there.
<snip>
Totally apart from that, there was a portal that the minions of the Death Lord were trying to open. This was based on the Keep on the Shadowfell module, and I used those maps. One of the maps shows four white crystal pillars that were shining a mystical blue-green, and the fourth is shown on the map as broken. The party has defeated the Death Lord’s minions and kept them from opening that portal.

The problem (if it is one) is that when they saw the one broken pillar, they instantly decided that the pillars were connected to the amulets. They have even convinced themselves that they were told there are three amulets left, rather than three to start with. So they are absolutely convinced that these pillars are important clues for them. In fact, they are merely crystal pillars that glow. I described the pillars only because they happen to appear on the map I was using.
<snip>
Is this a problem? Should I let them follow their red herring, or try to let them know that these pillars are meaningless?
Well, the problem occured due to a combination of circumstances:
- You used a map not your own, on which there was a mysterious landmark for which you had no backstory prepared. You described it anyway, because it had some nice flavor and it was already on the map there to see. (Totally understandable, this is not a criticism.)
- They were primed on the number 3. And on portals (because you just had the bbeg's minions work on that). 4 Crystal pillars, one broken, portals... Maybe it's a portal. And there's only three pillars left, the fourth is broken. Weren't there 3 amulets... left? The pillars are important!

Context is everything.

So much so, that if you expressly tell them there were only three amulets in total, they will probably keep trying to link the Crystal Pillars and the Evil Dude of Evilness. I'd suggest doing one of two things:
- Retcon! Make up a significance for the pillars that makes the PCs not completely wrong. Sometimes the best idea is to roll with the best idea your PCs suggest as your genius plot and pretend that was your genius plot all along. If you feel making this connection makes your story better, do this. If you feel that this will make your plot less believable, go to the next option.
- Give the Pillars a function. A function that is undeniably linked to something else. Have a quartet of Frost Giants meet up at the pillars, one of them crippled, to conduct a ritual of everlasting life (as long as the pillars are charged with magic, the Frost Giants live), or make up your own explanation.

Leaving around very clearly magical stuff in plain sight during Plot Relevant Episodes will strong couple that magical stuff to Plot Relevance, unless an alterior explanation can be found. Give them an alterior explanation to unearth, or change the cards a bit so that it is plot relevant...

Aedilred
2014-06-11, 05:17 AM
I'm also in the "don't rewrite your entire campaign just because your players got the wrong idea" camp. Although I agree that you probably now need some sort of an explanation for the pillars, even if it doesn't tie to the amulets. Players come up with all sorts of ludicrous theories and sometimes when one looks vaguely plausible they get attached to it. But the players aren't always, or even usually, right about this sort of thing, and rewriting the campaign world to accommodate their expectations isn't something I'd recommend. If it was an amazing theory that would be awesome if true, that's one thing. If it's just something the players have brainstormed as a potential solution that also makes life easier for them, not so much.

On the other hand, as has been mentioned the players seem to have engaged with the whole "stop the Death Lord" thing and it's a bit of a bummer to shut that down completely just because it wasn't what you had planned. So it would be useful to work out why you don't want them to do that, and if there's no particular reason that they can't conceptually, maybe see if you can make the amulets more accessible for them - whether by bringing them closer (albeit it does seem a bit convenient and cliched for all the amulets to be close by the adventuring party working to stop him) or by making it possible for them to discover the locations of the others at least and maybe travel there.

But for now I suggest just dropping increasingly heavy hints that they're dead wrong. And come up with an explanation for the pillars independent of the amulets. It doesn't have to be a particularly sexy explanation; not everything has to be a spooooky plot-critical macguffin after all. Just something logical to explain why there were four glowing pillars.

Alternatively, you could effectively forcibly stop them from pursuing this plot right now by introducing a secondary one which demands their immediate attention. For all that players complain about railroading they can be remarkably prone to putting themselves on tracks in chasing red herrings, so I wouldn't feel too guilty about derailing them every now and again. Then by the time they get back to the Death Lord they might be more receptive to rethinking things and acknowledging their earlier theory was wrong.

Kalmageddon
2014-06-11, 07:02 AM
Alternatively, you could just tell them "Guys, no, you're remembering wrong, there are three amulets TOTAL, not left."

This.
Why didn't you do that already?

Telonius
2014-06-11, 08:22 AM
Exactly how did the three amulets "help keep the Dark Lord out?" Would destroying the three amulets release the Dark Lord? If so, that means the minions got to one already.

Averis Vol
2014-06-11, 09:10 AM
On the other hand, as has been mentioned the players seem to have engaged with the whole "stop the Death Lord" thing and it's a bit of a bummer to shut that down completely just because it wasn't what you had planned. So it would be useful to work out why you don't want them to do that, and if there's no particular reason that they can't conceptually, maybe see if you can make the amulets more accessible for them - whether by bringing them closer (albeit it does seem a bit convenient and cliched for all the amulets to be close by the adventuring party working to stop him) or by making it possible for them to discover the locations of the others at least and maybe travel there.


Well, he doesn't even have to shut it down if there just straight up isn't any leads to follow in the current country. If they want to roam all over the land, I doubt the OP would have a problem with that, I think his dig is more that they are expecting things to just pop up because they think they're right.

draken50
2014-06-11, 09:22 AM
It sounds like you've had ample opportunity to correct the misconception. Since you didn't... now it's time to start looking at making the pillars worthwhile in some regard, and add another amulet.

The fact is, your players characters are going to have an easier time remember what they were actually told, since those are characters in a story that probably spend quite a bit of time thinking about their grand quests ect. Your players on the other hand, sit around a table and are told things, and then live their lives.

So personally I recommend the advice of figuring out how to alter your campaign to meet player expectations, and if you don't want to do that, correct them when they get important plot points they've already been informed of wrong immediately.

JeenLeen
2014-06-11, 10:45 AM
I think it could be okay to let the players just be mistaken, and figure it out as the campaign ends. However, if it's really disruptive -- they are spending a lot of time and energy on trying to figure out what's needed (which seems likely if they are seeking a non-existent 4th amulet) -- then I think it's fine just to tell them OOC.

Although if it's not too disruptive to integrate a 4th thing into the plot, then that could work. Perhaps there were 4 amulets, but one was already destroyed (and thus the pillar shattered)? You could have find a report, or a minion of the Big Bad who tells them that in exchange for its life.

In one game (oWoD Mage) we played, we got a McGuffin alongside a magic sword that was just magic loot. We traded it to vampires, but later on a dream-vision had swords as important. I (and thus my character) was convinced that the sword we traded was one of the swords in the vision, and so I was intent on getting/stealing it back. The other players thought I was probably mistaken. Eventually the GM just told me flat-out that the sword was not important.

Icewraith
2014-06-11, 11:50 AM
In the future, when a PC misremembers an important plot point, roll a wis (or int, or knowledge, or whatever, but something applicable) check and if you like the results, correct the player before the red herring can get out of hand.

Otherwise, now that they're invested, roll with it! The pillars don't have to be connected to the current plotline, but maybe they do actually have a purpose? Maybe they're the memorial stones of an ancient druid or wizard or other magical type. If the pcs repair the pillar, the shade of the spellcaster briefly shows up to thank them and directs them to some forgotten or lost minor treasure as a reward. If the PCs pester him for information about the portal or amulets, the spellcaster complains that the minions of the dark lord set up a portal to that realm in the vicinity long after the spellcaster's death, and during the battle with the remaining minions to seal the portal one of the pillars was disfigured and never repaired.

If the PCs sufficiently annoy the spellcaster or threaten to disfigure the pillars in an attempt to get more information, the spellcaster manifests into something horrible (but not too strong, so they have time to figure out the next bit) and tries to eat/destroy/something bad them. If the pcs fight, the spellcaster's form (suggest either some horribly tentacled far realm thing or he animates a crude golem out of the local rocks) doesn't take damage but they can defeat him by destroying all of the pillars before he kills them. If they don't figure it out, once they start to complain that the thing doesn't appear to be taking damage you can have one of the pillars crack after a critical hit as a hint. You can also have the spellcaster taunt them with things like "Fools! This temporary body does not feel your blades!" They can also run, of course. The spellcaster will pursue the party up to a certain distance from the memorial before losing power.

Don't punish the players for trying to figure out your campaign, interacting with the world and getting it wrong, but don't twist the campaign to make them right either (unless their version of what's going on is significantly better than what you had planned, then roll with it and figure out a twist to throw in at the last minute). The players get a minor reward and some backstory, and simultaneously discover that they can be wrong about how they remember things happening and that you'll neither screw them over nor overtly railroad them as long as they're not going too crazy.

Lorsa
2014-06-11, 01:24 PM
Can they reliably find information on anything that will help them? If they're jumping on the amulet plotline more heavily than you anticipated, that needn't necessarily be bad (and also quite expected, if I knew about a Death Lord possibly entering this world, that would probably be my focus).

If you let them come across some information that reveals the nature of the pillars (old legends about the place) in a way that makes them discard their theory or alternatively information on the amulets themselves that might help?

I've always found that the best way to get rid of red herrings is to provide information that contradicts their idea. It doesn't work on all players (some stick with an idea for eternity no matter how wrong it is) but most will re-evaluate what they think when provided new facts.

So really, all you need to do is figure out why the pillars glow, or what they've been used for, or even better some form of legend as to why one was broken which will be from a time period that can impossibly be connected to the amulets.

nedz
2014-06-11, 01:47 PM
One of the major points of RPGs is discovery. So you need to set up a means by which they can discover their error. I wouldn't out-right tell them though — spoiles the fun.

Sartharina
2014-06-11, 03:27 PM
Find a way for them to realize that the glowing pillars are just glowing pillars. Find another, different use for them they can learn (And be disappointed that it's actually just a curiosity about the world, like the paperweight trophy I have on my desk), tied to the setting - such as them being a magical microwave or something.

Winter_Wolf
2014-06-11, 05:12 PM
People spend whole lifetimes being wrong and chasing dead ends and misconceptions in real life, why would fantasy characters be any different? That being said, I don't have to game with the group of players in the OP group, so even if they threw a massive hissy fit over being allowed to go off on a terribly mistaken tangent I wouldn't be caught up in it. Basically if your players can handle that they've made a horrible mistake in comprehension, I'd just leave the situation. Or ask them to make INT or WIS rolls and just tell them their subconscious minds have been working things out and there is no correlation between the pillars and the amulets.

Then again I much prefer status quo campaigns over tailored to PCs as center of the universe campaigns. I'm sure there's a way to put that which seems less snarky but I'm tired and can't think of it right now.

Thrudd
2014-06-11, 10:28 PM
Is it likely they will seek out the advise of a sage, or can you point them in that direction? How else do they plan on finding out lore regarding the pillars and/or the amulets? That's an easy way to relieve them of their misconceptions. They seek out a sage who knows the history of the crystal pillar region, a reasonable thing to do. He tells them that the pillars were created by shamans and used as the signposts for the primitive temple of some random god, lost in an earthquake long ago, or were created by a wizard as beacons to designate a meeting place for his cabal. Nothing to do with sealing in the death lord or amulets or protecting anything from evil. Just big, pretty lights. The years would be way off, either the pillars are far more ancient than the amulets, or vice versa.
Of course, you can always come back and have the pillars be important for some adventure after all, unrelated to the death lord. They learn about a wizard cabal that created some type of legendary magic device, but the cabal was destroyed and the artifact never found. Where could it be? Hey, didn't we hear about a wizard cabal a while back, that used to meet in the area of the pillars?

Jay R
2014-06-12, 12:05 AM
To answer a few of the questions:

1. The problem with rolling with their ideas is that I have no more plot associated with the Death Lord. That's why the other two are on other continents. They aren't ready to face him yet, so I was going to pull them elsewhere and rejoin this plotline at tenth level or so. (They are currently 3rd-4th.)

2. The party itself destroyed the first amulet, thinking it was evil.

3. The amulets strengthen the barriers between universes. That's why the forces of the Death Lord were close to breaking the barrier very shortly after the party destroyed the amulet. The party had unwittingly helped them do it.

4. With that portal defended, there is no more threat on this continent. The idea was for a much more powerful party to face the Death Lord's army after it breaks through and establishes a kingdom on this world, at a much higher level of experience.

5. There is a local sage, who told them about the amulets in the first place. If they go back to that town, and if they ask him about the pillars, he can end this red herring. But you've convinced me that the pillars have to do something other than Continual Light. It has to be something that doesn't happen automatically, since they've spent several hours in that room. On the other hand, they are there now. Any ideas?

Finally, I can't respond to this thread often, since my wife is one of the players. I can only read this when I know she won't enter my office. Keep the ideas coming. I'm reading them all, even if I don't answer often.

Erik Vale
2014-06-12, 01:12 AM
Glowing statue to me suggests a gathering place, a marker, or a ward to keep something out/in.

Given there were four, perhaps something [stereotypically a demon, though less likely given no circles and the like] was contained previously. The number doesn't suggest it's a gathering place. There being four suggests it could be a marker for something within it's bounds, perhaps a portal?

Thrudd
2014-06-12, 02:24 AM
To answer a few of the questions:

1. The problem with rolling with their ideas is that I have no more plot associated with the Death Lord. That's why the other two are on other continents. They aren't ready to face him yet, so I was going to pull them elsewhere and rejoin this plotline at tenth level or so. (They are currently 3rd-4th.)

2. The party itself destroyed the first amulet, thinking it was evil.

3. The amulets strengthen the barriers between universes. That's why the forces of the Death Lord were close to breaking the barrier very shortly after the party destroyed the amulet. The party had unwittingly helped them do it.

4. With that portal defended, there is no more threat on this continent. The idea was for a much more powerful party to face the Death Lord's army after it breaks through and establishes a kingdom on this world, at a much higher level of experience.

5. There is a local sage, who told them about the amulets in the first place. If they go back to that town, and if they ask him about the pillars, he can end this red herring. But you've convinced me that the pillars have to do something other than Continual Light. It has to be something that doesn't happen automatically, since they've spent several hours in that room. On the other hand, they are there now. Any ideas?

Finally, I can't respond to this thread often, since my wife is one of the players. I can only read this when I know she won't enter my office. Keep the ideas coming. I'm reading them all, even if I don't answer often.

The pillars mark the entrance to another area, perhaps an underground area of the ancient temple or wizard's laboratory. The door is undetectable by normal or magical means. It will only open with a code word, which is not recorded in history. Perhaps the sage knows where they could start looking for it, where the last member of the cabal was known to have resided in retirement. Or maybe if you don't want it to be too drawn out, the sage does have the codeword, but it is hidden in a riddle. The broken pillar might need to be fixed, first, with a certain ritual that will need to be researched somewhere.

nedz
2014-06-12, 08:50 AM
There are several unsubtle methods

Have some NPC destroy the Pillars
Rocks fall, Pillars die buried
Water, lots of it, floods the Pillars
Wandering monsters turn up and occupy the room containing the Pillars
etc.


Basically you force them to move on.
Another way of doing this is to give them a time critical crisis — which they have to go and deal with.

There is a chance though that, come the start of the next session, they will have become bored and just move on anyway.

Yora
2014-06-12, 09:54 AM
Just to tell them that there are no four pillars bound to four amulets, all you need is to let them see or hear about a bunch of similar pillars being in the region. If they ask someone if he knows of such pillars, he can tell them they are all over the place.

The bigger problem seems to be that they want to kill the demon lords right now, while there isn't anything they can do.

Lorsa
2014-06-12, 10:34 AM
Perhaps the pillars supply some form of magical energy that is needed to open the portal. They might mark a spot where the veil between this world and the other is very thin. It's even possible that the very ritual that tried to open the portal cracked one of the pillars as it tried to drain too much energy from it (since not all amulets were destroyed yet thus requiring more energy). Destroying all pillars might mean the Dark Lord can't be summoned there again.

Binks
2014-06-12, 10:55 AM
Having read the first post, but skimmed the rest (so maybe someone else had the same idea, or it won't work for some reason mentioned in the middle of the thread) here's how I would handle this. Feel free to poach anything you think might be worth using, or ignore completely :smalltongue:.

Firstly, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to roll with it and make a more memorable campaign. The players think the amulets are bad and should be destroyed. Destroying them helps summon the bad guy who they need to fight. Players inadvertently helping the very thing they're trying to stop always makes for a memorable ending, and you didn't even have to work overly hard to get this one started.

There's not that much you need to change that I can see to make this work. First, there are 4 Amulets, not 3. But 1 is locked away somewhere nobody (until near the end) knows and the wise guy didn't know of its existence (takes care of the numbering issues and gives a later plot hook).

Second, the pillars are in fact linked to the Amulets. They are scrying stones for all 4 Amulets that can be activated with a particular ritual and show the surroundings of each Amulet. Since one Amulet is broken, it's pillar has shattered. They can find out about this feature of the pillars, but the ritual has been 'lost to the ages'. Of course, if the PCs go and do X (whatever is planned to get them to the level to go to the next continent), they can put the pieces of the ritual back together and activate the pillars.

Death Lord plotline continues, but in the background as the PCs search out the lost pieces of this ritual so they can activate the pillars and learn where the other Amulets are.

Jay R
2014-06-17, 10:20 AM
I'm not ignoring your help, but I can't check out this thread when my wife is around, since she's a player.

In general, I like the idea of following the players' leads rather than my own, as long as it can be made to work.

To make it work, I'd have to change most of the history of the Death Lord's previous incursions, the history of that keep, the general makeup of the lands around them, and the motives of the enemy approaching that they already know about, and then I'd have to retcon some of what already happened to them.

I think Yora's right. I just need them to see more pillars elsewhere, and learn that they are fairly standard. I can even arrange for them to hear a story of a battle decades ago in that cathedral that destroyed one pillar.

Thanks, everyone.

Segev
2014-06-17, 11:34 AM
Leave it as a red herring. But use their motivation to follow it to plant them in the path of other plot lines. Maybe make those plot lines look like they're attached to what the players think they're following.

At a convenient point, ask them to make a Lore check or an Int check when they're puzzling out the connection, or give them access to that sage, and correct their misconception. But do so after they're hooked on this (now clearly unrelated) plot line. Spring it almost as a relief - perhaps you've set up a seeming moral dilemma wherein they might have to further the Death Lord (according to their misconceptions about what's going on) to stop this current threat, or enable this current threat to stop the Death Lord...and then they figure out they had it wrong about the Death Lord and are free to trounce the current threat.

homersolo
2014-06-17, 02:58 PM
Side Quest it with the treasure being "The Amulet of Three Truths"

Once found, they will learn that the amulet will reveal three truths that are close to the mind of the person performing the ritual to activate it.

The three truths are:
1) Three Amulets were created to hold back the dark lord, but only two remain.

2) Yes, your wife did have an affair.

3) You should see a medicine man about that itch.

(or whatever).

This should tip your peeps off that the 4 pillars are not the three amulets. If they still don't catch on, that's on them.

Kol Korran
2014-06-18, 07:19 AM
Ok, lets think up some ideas:
- The pillars are sort of observation portals to some other entities/ people. Each one is linked to someone who has some interest in the Death Lord's coming back. These could be old minions, friends, cultists and the like. But give them a good reason to not being able to attend (Perhaps they are imprisoned themselves, or otherwise occupied). They have been watching ll that has transpired in the room, sort of silently, watching who these new upstart heroes are. Looking at their strength, and especially looking at their weaknesses.

And then they make their presence known. Either intentionally, (Gloating evil, making a challenge, perhaps a ruse, masquerading as someone else, a quest giver?) or not intentionally. (The party may grow more accustomed to the psychic whispers between statues perhaps, or one of them probes too deep?). You now have an interesting roleplay encounter, between the party and... someone they are unsure about. Try to keep the identity of the watchers a secret, but give some subtle clues, especially if the players manage to trick them to revealing stuff.
How this turns out is up to you.

What about the broken statue though? Well, there may have been someone else in Team Evil's group, that for some reason came to a... disagreement of a sort, and therefore the evil team destroyed their statue to prevent whoever it is from exploring. If the party manages to guess that, pick on that, they may realize they have a potential ally. Again, put some clues, but not obvious ones.

If you go with this idea I suggest to perhaps give each of the other 3 observing entities some a magic item/ ability that enables it to Scry/ look at vast distances (Perhaps like scry or clairaudiance/ clairvoyance) but only under certain conditions at the scry point, like a certain kind of material, or some such. These antagonist may then look/ interact with the party from a distance at other locations as well, which can give you a long standing ability to interact with PCs without coming to immediate blows. You know, build up character, personality, interaction, a relationship. It can also add an interesting complication to the party's lives: "Can we talk here? Are you sure there is no silver here? ABSOLUTELY sure?" Then find interesting ways to add this scry element to all kinds of situations. The statues may have been here, but they have been altered/ enchanted or built intentionally to incorporate such an element.

This may enable also talking with the hidden ally in more ways than one...
Good luck with your game!

TandemChelipeds
2014-06-19, 03:05 AM
Have them run into more of the same pillars in their travels. Then let it happen again, and again, and again, until it becomes clear that the pillars are just really cryptic ancient ruins with no actual connection to your plot. Think up a civilization to be behind the pillars, and instant background fluff. Also, they could be a source of plot later on.

Bronk
2014-06-20, 08:40 AM
Have the glowing columns be a timer for the steps that must be taken to bring the Dark Lord over. Had they not destroyed the first amulet, they would all be glowing, and they can either find more sets of these columns in the future to mark their progress or they can get messages from the people they left behind to guard the place that 'the second one has gone dark' or 'the last one is flickering, the final dark ritual must be nearly finished! Hurry and try to disrupt it!" That way you could jump back to that plot whenever you want.

Alternately, it could be completely different... perhaps all four columns indicate the status of the forests of the land that they are in now. Maybe they're even mythal capstones, and one is broken for some reason. That reason could be some other monster or evil, or could also be linked back to the Dark Lord plot... breaking the amulet ruined the protection of that part of the land protected by the mythal. Maybe instead they are merely empowered by mythals elsewhere, and the quest is to find how and why the true mythal or mythal's capstone is threatened, then save it.

Or maybe the amulets were actually the mythal capstones, and the pillar's 'continual light' function is tied to them... The last one could be at the ritual site, and the ritual involves breaking some fourth thing that the amulet's magic was holding together all this time.

The reason I think you should run with it is that it sounds like you don't have a lot of story built up for the future, and not a lot of alone time to come up with it. Also, telling the group that all of their characters forgot so simple a plot point many sessions later will just result in hurt feelings.

ClockShock
2014-06-21, 11:04 AM
This is perfect.

Your players are so focussed on the plot you started with that they're actively seeking it out. This is what you want as a DM.

The other two amulets you have planned are a little far away, but that's fine because the players have invented an entirely new amulet that you can use. Just stick this new one close by.

If reaching the second amulet just so happens to coincide with whatever other plot line you have in motion, all the better. You get the joy of giving the players a goal you know they want to work towards.