Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Interlude

Due to real life issues, I had to step in as DM. We had previously settled on going back to do some Storm King's side quests, but with no idea on where to start or what to prepare (and the book of side quests lost somewhere), I decided on dragging it out with a short encounter. Needless to say, it took the whole evening to solve.

With the adventurers unable to enter the dungeon[1], they hung out around the tavern discussing what to do next. This took a while, as expected. Then they got immediately sidetracked by an old woman, complaining about devil-worshippers in the city, and the town guard unwilling to act. Being mighty adventurers, they stepped up to the task.

The party made their way to a rather nice neighborhood, to stalk out the house in question. They noticed nothing untoward, just the lady of the house playing with a small child. They set their factions - the Zhentarim and the Lords' Alliance - to find out more information about the occupants, but failed to follow up. Oh well.

As evening set in, people started arriving at the house.[2] Not enough to slip in amongst, but enough for a cult ritual. Okos sent in a psionic summoned eye to spy upon them, but they started off with having dinner. Inconspicuous. 

Unlike the party, who took shelter in some nearby bushes to discuss plans - attracting the attention of a city watchman. Instead of explaining, they teleported into the back yard of the supposed cultists.

As the people inside finished their dinner and started talking about how they entered the lair of a demon, the players started catching on. 

Szivem went to knock on the back door, stating that 'Your pizza delivery is here!'. The man of the house dragged her to the front door and pushed her out into the street, like the street urchin/beggar/thief she appeared to be. Standing all alone on a darkening street, she also caught the eyes of a patrol. She cried and they offered to help, only to have her disappear - teleported again by Okos. The watchman cursed and ran.

At around this point I had to take a 10 minute break, during which the players put the pieces together.[3] I caught on that they caught on, and so I started giving more obvious hints. The "cultists" rolled out a large scroll with a scribbled on map, and put small statuettes down. They changed clothes, going into black and red robes, brandishing fake elf ears, toy weapons and such. They rolled strange polyhedral dice, getting excited or dismayed over the results. The man of the house described them the lair of the demon, and they responded with what they wished to do.

Wanting to just... do something, the party stepped out of hiding from behind a shed, and teleported right unto the living room table. Okos shouted: 'You want magic? We'll give you magic!' One woman immediately fainted, every else ran. Solid cast Compelled duel, causing the first one out the door - an infirmary - to charge back screeching, small scissors in hand. Unwilling to hurt her, he let her go. In other words, general mayhem. 

With the house quickly emptying, the adventurers stepped outside like nothing happened. They were quite surprised at being confronted by the city guard and an accompanying mage. They teleported back to their tavern.

At this point it was getting late, and I was unwilling to continue in a more serious manner. I had the tavernkeeper alert them in the morning about "being wanted by the watch", and let them slip out to the Harper teleportation circle.

Next up: actual Storm King's side quests.

[1] It was closed off with yellow and black tape.

[2] Rather vague descriptions of our real-life personas, but nobody caught on at this point.

[3] Ireth was the one to notice everything.