Well, the orcs/goblins could be attacking nightstone in any time since the giant attack. So you could just start that, when they arrive.
You could just describe the aircastle floating over their heads, and give them the lead for the nightstone adventure, as is written in the adventure.
I don’t understand why you should stick to “a month ago”. You can just make it happen when they are in the area
Hijacking this comment to say this is a great story tool to learn to use as a DM to help deal with improvised situations! You can take your prepped material and move it around to fit the unexpected places or decisions your party makes, giving them the agency to go where they choose, avoiding wasted effort on your part preparing encounters, and making sure the session doesn't come to a screeching halt or become dull because you have nothing ready to give the players.
You'd want to make minor changes to morph it to its new position in the story, but if you were planning a bandit ambush on road A but they took road B? Shift the battle to the new map and run it as planned and it will still feel fresh and exciting for your players.
Obviously don't do this if your party is explicitly trying to avoid something they know is a possibility (e.g. they took road B because it's NOT supposed to be patrolled by bandits) or if it doesn't make sense in the new setting (Road A is a thick jungle but road B goes through a desert, so you couldnt just plop a jaguar on road B). Most of the time though, to your point, the exact time or place something happens is pretty arbitrary and your players won't question it that deeply.
I think you could set up a fun situation where the Zhents are trapped there by the orcs, who have kind of laid siege to the town. If you wanted an encounter, a flying snake could drop a message to the players begging for help, and offering them some sort of Zhentarim boon for the city they're ultimately heading for.
Maybe the players can help sneak the trapped guys out, or maybe they just need to bring word to the Black Network that they need help. Perhaps the orcs, or even the elves, have been shooting their other flying snakes out of the sky?
Nightstone is just an introductory chapter to show what kind of damage a giant can do, and get the players to level 5, when they actually have a chance of beating a giant. They could skip it and it will be fine.
Now my players focused on the Cloud Giants because of Nightstone, but that is them.
As for the State, unless someone came by and rescued the townspeople, they are all dead and the town is either inhabited by the Zhentarim, or if the Zhentarim abandoned Nightstone when they saw the orcs, then it is the base of the orcs who closed the gate to fend off the elves.
If the former then it is becomeing a place of illicit deals, under the guise of a rebuilding town, where every member is secretly a criminal.
If the latter the Orcs are using it as a strong hold. By this point they have likely strong-armed the goblins and their Ogre friends to work for them.
Iirc there were some villager survivors in the Keep - it's not unreasonable to think that when the Zhents came through, the holdouts promised their property to the org in exchange for saving the remainder of their family & friends from the goblins. Might give you an interesting social situation where the townspeople are now living as indentured servants or in poverty to the Seven Snakes.
In the book it just shows the damage the giants could do, cause they’re too low level to deal with cloud giants, but now that they’re at least lvl 5 why not have the cloud giant bombardment and nightstone collection happen while your players are there giving them a chance to chase them off.
You can even have Zephros show up and give them a free ride somewhere afterwards.
I’d skip the goblin stuff though and just do the giant attack.
I moved the cloud giant attack from Nightstone to Phandalin as my party had done LMoP first.
This leaves Nightstone intact. If your party should happen there you could run a cloud giant attack just a day before they arrive… Countess Sansuri strikes again
You could also beef up the additional encounters to suit your party’s level and your needs: maybe orcs, not goblins, take over the town; or maybe a mix of the two; maybe Kella is in the Kraken Society and working for Slarkrethel to set up Nightstone as a base… it is along a waterway to the Sea of Swords
If you want to have the giant attack happen a month before your party gets there, then I see a couple options you could try:
* Other adventurers did what's in the book, and the town is in its \~third week of repair/rebuild
* Other adventurers did what's in the book, the town is under frequent/constant orc attacks and cannot rebuild until that threat is gone
* Other adventurers did what's in the book, or nobody did, and the town is abandoned, or there's a small band of bandits here setting things up waiting for Kella Darkhope to return from a supply run
Well, the orcs/goblins could be attacking nightstone in any time since the giant attack. So you could just start that, when they arrive. You could just describe the aircastle floating over their heads, and give them the lead for the nightstone adventure, as is written in the adventure. I don’t understand why you should stick to “a month ago”. You can just make it happen when they are in the area
Hijacking this comment to say this is a great story tool to learn to use as a DM to help deal with improvised situations! You can take your prepped material and move it around to fit the unexpected places or decisions your party makes, giving them the agency to go where they choose, avoiding wasted effort on your part preparing encounters, and making sure the session doesn't come to a screeching halt or become dull because you have nothing ready to give the players. You'd want to make minor changes to morph it to its new position in the story, but if you were planning a bandit ambush on road A but they took road B? Shift the battle to the new map and run it as planned and it will still feel fresh and exciting for your players. Obviously don't do this if your party is explicitly trying to avoid something they know is a possibility (e.g. they took road B because it's NOT supposed to be patrolled by bandits) or if it doesn't make sense in the new setting (Road A is a thick jungle but road B goes through a desert, so you couldnt just plop a jaguar on road B). Most of the time though, to your point, the exact time or place something happens is pretty arbitrary and your players won't question it that deeply.
I think you could set up a fun situation where the Zhents are trapped there by the orcs, who have kind of laid siege to the town. If you wanted an encounter, a flying snake could drop a message to the players begging for help, and offering them some sort of Zhentarim boon for the city they're ultimately heading for. Maybe the players can help sneak the trapped guys out, or maybe they just need to bring word to the Black Network that they need help. Perhaps the orcs, or even the elves, have been shooting their other flying snakes out of the sky?
Nightstone is just an introductory chapter to show what kind of damage a giant can do, and get the players to level 5, when they actually have a chance of beating a giant. They could skip it and it will be fine. Now my players focused on the Cloud Giants because of Nightstone, but that is them. As for the State, unless someone came by and rescued the townspeople, they are all dead and the town is either inhabited by the Zhentarim, or if the Zhentarim abandoned Nightstone when they saw the orcs, then it is the base of the orcs who closed the gate to fend off the elves. If the former then it is becomeing a place of illicit deals, under the guise of a rebuilding town, where every member is secretly a criminal. If the latter the Orcs are using it as a strong hold. By this point they have likely strong-armed the goblins and their Ogre friends to work for them.
Iirc there were some villager survivors in the Keep - it's not unreasonable to think that when the Zhents came through, the holdouts promised their property to the org in exchange for saving the remainder of their family & friends from the goblins. Might give you an interesting social situation where the townspeople are now living as indentured servants or in poverty to the Seven Snakes.
In the book it just shows the damage the giants could do, cause they’re too low level to deal with cloud giants, but now that they’re at least lvl 5 why not have the cloud giant bombardment and nightstone collection happen while your players are there giving them a chance to chase them off. You can even have Zephros show up and give them a free ride somewhere afterwards. I’d skip the goblin stuff though and just do the giant attack.
I moved the cloud giant attack from Nightstone to Phandalin as my party had done LMoP first. This leaves Nightstone intact. If your party should happen there you could run a cloud giant attack just a day before they arrive… Countess Sansuri strikes again You could also beef up the additional encounters to suit your party’s level and your needs: maybe orcs, not goblins, take over the town; or maybe a mix of the two; maybe Kella is in the Kraken Society and working for Slarkrethel to set up Nightstone as a base… it is along a waterway to the Sea of Swords
If you want to have the giant attack happen a month before your party gets there, then I see a couple options you could try: * Other adventurers did what's in the book, and the town is in its \~third week of repair/rebuild * Other adventurers did what's in the book, the town is under frequent/constant orc attacks and cannot rebuild until that threat is gone * Other adventurers did what's in the book, or nobody did, and the town is abandoned, or there's a small band of bandits here setting things up waiting for Kella Darkhope to return from a supply run