The Riddle of the Rod
Given that the Rod itself serves as little more than a MacGuffin in the overall plot, I had thought about adding a point where the party has to make use of its powers.
My group is currently stalking through the corridors of Citadel Cavitius, and I thought I'd replace the Mirror Dance (from Vecna Reborn) with a series of seven trials/puzzles that while not being as simple as 'cast spell from rod' would at least be inspired by the individual parts.
Obviously, puzzles related to 'reverse gravity' and 'find the path' are fairly obvious, but I was having a little stumbling block over some of the others. Anyone out there got a suggestion or two to oil the gears of my rusted brain?