I made a Chuth clone. I don't know what happens next.
The Setup:
My players ambushed Chuth and Neronvain before finding his stronghold. They were just trying to tail Galin and things got out of hand. Anyhow, after that session one player mentioned "wow, I wonder if there's another green dragon in the area? I'm not sure that was the one we're looking for."
And I thought "Yeah, maybe there IS another dragon...and maybe I can run him properly this time."
So I added some notes to Neronvain's journal. I referenced Chuth's quest for immortality . How he refused Jorgen Pawl's offer to become a dracolich, but Rath Modar offered "another way". (the other way is a Clone spell. Turns out my players don't know that's a thing!)
I added another room connected to Chuth's lair. It goes down into a 20' by 40' chamber with a gargantuan chamber/vat. This is the clone vessel. The vat is slowly emitting poison gas into the chamber.
The players clogged the vents and looked in the window. They saw green scales. They all said "Oh shit." and we ended the session.
The Problem:
I originally planned for Chuth to already be out of the vat, or emerge once they got there. It didn't happen. I got distracted and ran out of time etc...
My questions:
Why is the clone still in the vat? Probably because it's not mature. It's only on day 119 or something.
But that should mean that the soul transfer would fail, unless it's working differently because that's cool and my players don't know any better.
Is the clone awake and biding it's time? Maybe Chuth knows what's going on and is staying in the vat to screw with people.
Do I let the players destroy the vat and fine a mindless clone? Does Chuth finally pop out and attack? Am I letting literal spell descriptions get in the way of a cool story moment (probably)?
TL;DR: I improvised a thing. My players loved it. How do I keep the bit going?