Here are some fragments of canon that i want to tie together into a semi-coherent story (and have some fun doing it!).
1) Thrommel, heir apparent to the throne of Furyondy and the betrothed of Jolene of Veluna is kidnapped.
2) Gygax dropped the hint that the Scarlet Brotherhood committed the deed at the behest of Nyrond [and then presumably doubled their money by auctioning him off to Iuz and/or the ToEE.
3) Why did Hedrack want to delay finding Zuggtmoy in the temple? Clearly it wouldnt be that hard for a motivated demigod like Iuz to free her.
So what was Nyrond's motivation? The County of Urnst is just the sort of small juicy prosperous state on the Nyr Dyv that states love to compete over. Per canon, at one time or another the Duchy of Urnst, Nyrond and Aerdy have all held sway over the County either directly or indirectly. This "great game" continues on a much smaller scale today. Much like medieval Europe, the nobility of the Central Flanaess is somewhat intertwined by marriage. In my vision, Jolene is the daughter of Belissica, the Countess of Urnst's younger daughter. Belissica is without issue - she has no heirs and has dawdled in taking a husband (like Elizabeth of England) to the point where she is too old to conceive. Thus, Jolene is THE (or one of two) heirs to Belissica's position.
Once Jolene marries Thrommel and once his father passes away, their is the real prospect that not only will Furyondy and Veluna unite, but that the County of Urnst will pass to this new dominion. From Nyrond's point of view, not only would it lose its position in Urnst, but it will run the risk of gaining the well-oiled Furyondian military machine as a neighbor while it has much larger and evil Aerdy on the other side. In addition, the Nyr Dyv will start to look like a Furyondian lake and there was clearly a risk that Dyvers (once part of the kingdom) and even Greyhawk might fall under the sway of this powerful mega-state with the result that Furyondy would have the power to control the Central Flanaess' commerce.
A coterie of nobles in Nyrond and powers that be in the County of Urnst that favored Nyrond feared the prospect of a Velunan Queen, but the King of Nyrond had to be left in the dark. After all, this was a squeamish job as it involved kidnapping a woman and a woman from a good state at that. Clearly, from their perspective, this job was in the interest of the state and the group couldn't allow mere squeamishness from other do gooder advisors to the king to derail the project, thus they acted in secret. Their number certainly included the unscrupulous diviner The Seer of Urnst from the Duchy of Urnst, known for his ruthless methods in coercing adventurers to visit the Ghost Tower of Inverness. In participating in this plot, the neutral seer betrayed the interests of the Duke.
The Seer of Urnst was powerful enough to cast the divinations that located Jolene of Veluna. He used his contacts with a vestigial branch of the Scarlet Brotherhood in the Wild Coast and Pomarj to assemble a team of experienced slaver-kidnappers that probably included Brother Millerjoi, Theg Narlot and Lamonstern the Lazy. Everything worked perfectly as planned. The kidnappers appeared in Jolene's apartment, only to find Prince Thrommel alone in her bed (she having gone for a early morning stroll! The kidnappers easily subdued him and removed him to a safe house on the Wild Coast. Dissension immediately broke out between the kidnappers and their employers, who had wanted Jolene! Ultimately, and with hard feelings, a lower but still vast fortune was paid to ensure that "Thrommel would never be seen again." Still reeling from their hard dealings with the Seer and his cohorts, the kidnappers decided to raise additional revenue and conform to the letter of their agreement by selling Thrommel to an ambitious priest of Iuz named Hedrack who was sent to Nulb by Iuz after the Battle of Emridy Meadows to try and assert an element of control over the scattered and chaotic Temple remnants after the debacle of the battle. Hedrack looted one of Zuggtmoy's minor treasure troves in the ToEE to finance the purchase of Thrommel. For this reason, Hedrack has long encouraged Iuz (who has his own schemes while Zuggtmoy is imprisoned) to stall in his effort to free the demoness as he knows that there would be a reckoning with a freed Zuggtmoy. Of course, Iuz loves to have a threat he can hang over the head of his high priest (Zuggtmoy's revenge).
Hedrack purchased Thrommel to gain favor with Iuz (and succeeded!); Iuz has been content to let Hedrack keep Thrommel in the ToEE as the ToEE is warded against even the most powerful mortal divinations and also because the Furyondians were much more likely to look for Thrommel in the land of Iuz than outside of Nulb.
The participating slave lords used their vast (double) ransom to fund their efforts in the Pomarj and dramatically expand the formerly modest operations. Their increased scale and presence ultimately led to their defeat at the hands of a group of adventurers.
All parties to the conspiracy were relieved to note that Jolene swore off marriage altogether without her betrothed. They were certain that the people of Urnst would reject a second unmarried Queen and that other more distant relatives of the Queen would be more pliable.
The seer of Urnst's unscrupulous nature was later revealed in other matters and he disappeared.
Nice. I like it. You should do a full article on this.
My only critique is that it seems to me like it might be easier just to go ahead and kidnap Thrommel. Since he is Belvor's only son that would pretty much take care of any Furyondy-Veluna union, which would be the major threat. Yes, it would be inconvenient if Jolene inherited the County but not unmanageable. But that's just me.
This is an awesome way to tie together so many plotlines. I'm just curious, however-was the Scarlet Brotherhood really involved in the rise of the Slave Lords? I ask because I admittedly don't like Iuz and the Scarlet Brotherhood being behind just about every evil development in the Flanaess. Surely Prince Lynwerd's brother could be acting all on his own to seize the throne of Nyrond, not needing the Scarlet Sign's encouragement?
How do the Slave Lords tie into the greater plans of the Scarlet Brotherhood?
That aside, I absolutely love the way you have the good guys at each others' throats, mucking up the black and white into lovely shades of grey. Bonus for tying so many loose ends together.
It is very clear in canon that the slave lords had some connection with the scarlet brotherhood since two of the slave lords are scarlet brotherhood monks.
I also think that it is very clear that Nyrond and the Duchy of Urnst compete to dominate the County of Urnst and they would feel very threatened by an intrusion from a very powerful state like Furyondy/Veluna.
As for trying to kidnap Jolene and ending up with Thrommel, I thought it was kind of funny and also amusing to have a preacher's daughter sleeping with her betrothed. Even the best laid plans go awry!
Finally, I like the connection to Hedrack, since Hedrack doesn't seem to have been at the Battle of Emridy Meadows, he probably came from the Land of Iuz. How did he assert his authority and gain traction with Iuz when the temple's only real recent accomplishment was getting Thrommel? Plus, the Zuggtmoy won't like Hedrack angle could be useful for a roleplaying approach to the ToEE as opposed to a pure hack n slash approach. It would also explain why the wizard under the tower (I forgot his name, he has the skull) won't give the skull to Hedrack. The wizard knows that Hedrack would hide the skull and thereby make it even less likely that Zuggtmoy could be released, so he keeps it as his own security blanket if Hedrack should ever move against him, he could try to release Zuggtmoy.
You already did. All you would need to do is submit it, although I'd like to see some expansion on the plotlines.
You could make it into an adventure outline as a follow up to anyone running the original ToEE, working for Thrommel after he is freed to unravel the mystery of who was behind the kidnapping. Or even just working for Belvor, Jolene or some other Velunan or Furyondian notable to solve it before the events of ToEE. In fact it could be an angle to lead people to the ToEE. Endless possibilities.
You have your reasons for wanting to tie Jolene and Urnst into the kidnapping of Thrommel, and that's great if it works for you.
I don't think either Jolene/Urnst are nescessary, and I have a few problems with using this in my campaign, but you do well with them.
Nyrond should have had reason enough to fear a united Furyondy-Veluna far beyond any involvement with Urnst, for the reasons you state. Remember at the time of the kidnapping Iuz had been released for less than three years and was probably still consolidating his lands, measuring up his new neighbor the Horned Society, and making probes in the Vesve. It is doubtful he had moved against Furyondy yet and certainly most in Nyrond would have dismissed stories of his "return" as rumor. In retrospect (after the Greyhawk Wars), I'm sure those in Nyrond would think twice about their involvement in the kidnapping, but it would have seemed like a good idea at the time.
Jolene is not in fact a preacher's daughter. Her father is the Plar of Veluna, a secular noble. That Thrommel would bed her before marriage might affect his status as a paladin, though.
If you'd like to see how the kidnapping went down in my campaign, I have a series of articles called "The Abduction of Thrommel" here on CF.
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All you would need to do is submit it, although I'd like to see some expansion on the plotlines.