Stormwreck Isle, Aleitha's Curse, and Forest Gnomes: What Are Your Thoughts?
I've been reworking *Dragons of Stormwreck Isle* and would love some feedback and a lore check before I go any further. I find the rhythm of the adventure to be oddly episodic and non-cohesive, and my goal is to make it cohesive and tired together.
My two biggest changes to the overarching story are that Sparkrender now needs to collect dragon bones for his ritual (hat tip to Matthew Perkins for that idea), and the renegade kobolds have become a faction of Sharruth worshippers living almost entirely hidden underground. Placing dragon bones in Seagrow Caves feel a lot more purposeful. However, Aleitha's storyline and the wreck of the *Compass Rose* is really difficult to fit in, and I haven't been able to crack it.
To fill that space, I'm considering replacing the *Compass Rose* with a hidden community of forest gnomes. I picked forest gnomes partly because the island lends itself to an ecocentric theme, and partly because they are the natural enemy of kobolds. The idea is that the cloister has always maintained peaceful relations with the gnomes, while the gnomes have stayed mostly isolated. When Sparkrender begins stirring, the renegade kobolds raid the gnome settlement, driven by hatred and the fact that a dragon bone happens to be there. The gnomes, unaware of the rift between the island's kobold factions, blame the cloister for the attack.
This sets up a conflict I really like thematically. It plays right into Runara's belief that violence never accomplishes anything, but I'm struggling to turn it into a clean quest beyond simply a social interaction, and I am less interested in making it a who-done-it mystery. I'm also not married to cutting Aleitha and the *Compass Rose* entirely if someone can see a way to make her and the *Compass Rose* work within this framework.
Looking for your feedback, thoughts, and ideas.