So I should have know better.....
Ok, here is the thing. One of my players is very proactive, loves roleplaying his character and doing things I never would have expected (should have been a warning light). He is playing a were-raven fallen aasimar hexblade and follower of the raven queen. At the beginning he didn't know much about the forgotten realms and asked if he could play an amnesic. I said sure. As chapter 1 was coming to an end I struggled with Lulu and her role in the story, too silly for my groups tastes, and so I had the bright idea to swap her role with that of the player's aasimar hexblade. By this point I had also just discovered the Alexandrian Remix and started using some of that for Chapter 2 and beyond. Chapter 2 comes and goes and he loves the memory triggers and discovering he was a squire to Zariel, a trumpet archon to be exact. So all the memory stuff is about his character tweeked so that he was her companion and not a fluffy mount.
They explore Avernus hex style and in following of the Alexandrian Remix, the party went in search of 4 parts for Mad Maggie's memory machine. They have collected all the parts and were heading back to Fort Knucklebones. However I had the Bloodwar shift and the conflict engulfed 3 hexes, one of those is where Fort Knuckle Bone is. When they found out they were 1 hex away from The Bloody Cyst (Remix had the Citadel hidden instead of exposed and so was renamed tomthe Cyst). I had placed the Wandering Emporium there and the party had a magic ticket that would take them there but they didn't want to use it yet, no biggy. Well withntje war blocking their intended distination, they opt'd to go on a side quest to Purple City where a lost companion was. From their location was a straight line to the hex with Purple City, and it took them right through the Bloody Cyst / Wandering Emporium hex.
So here is where we are. The party, seeing as the Emporium is here (at the base of the 300 foot tall cyst), the party desides to make a pit stop. The Were-raven aasimar thoughout the campaign has always played the part of a scout in his small raven form and checked everything ahead to avoid un-necessary encounters as the rest of the party barreled along in their stolen warmachine.
Now i'm worried. The were-raven decides to scout the bloody cyst. Too soon for me to have him explore the cyst, especially when alone as the rest of his party has driven to and is about to enter the Emporium. So i discribe the lower 150 feet of the cyst like a hard black/red rock like scab. The middle 100 feet is softer red with many caves, where vrocks and other flying demons are, at this point he did notice a small demon army in the opposite side ofmthe cyst from the Emporium. The last 50 feet was a soft pink where a stirge queen and her hive/swarm of stirges have claim as their territory.
Were-raven got to close to the top 50 and got some stirge stings for his troubles. So he backs off out of their air space and investigates the middle 100 feet of caves and vrocks. I was hoping to discourage his solo exploration but at the same time I don't like to railroad or say no. Everything has been 'yes, but' situations. He has avoided vrocks flyers and made it into a cave. I then had him ambush by a trio of quasits in a small cave entrance.
Now up to this point I feel he should have memory triggers, especially now that he is physically touching and exploring the very space he was trapper with Zariel sword all those years ago. Being trapped in the cyst slowly diminished and stripped him of his tall trumpet archon form and reduced him down to a fallen aasimar. I have been resisting giving him a memory trigger as I feel he will make the connection given all the other memory info he has.
Do I give him a relevant, maybe vague, memory of the cyst which would most likely tip him off to the swords location? Doing so would cause them to drop the return to Fort Knucklebones, and this could end Chapter 3 before the payoff at the from the memory dives.
Any ideas on what I should do? Though I feel I know what I should do, I just would like some possible alternatives...